What synth for pads?

[Goldberg]

Well? I'm sort of looking for a synth that is best suited for sort of like atmospheric, soft, evolving pads for use in ambient music. Some of the ones I'm looking at are the NL2/NL3(don't really know which is better), Z1, Waldorf Q/maybe XTK, and more recently the more expensive Supernova2. Now I'm not really asking for you to tell me which synth to buy, I'm just searching for some general advice. I've played the NL2, but not extensively, and I'm just curious of how much potential it has in the pad department, as well as whether or not its successor would be a better buy. I've never played the Z1, but have sort of played on the Waldorf Q RACK-which I found the user interface to be sort of cumbersome and that sort of turned me down (again, this was the rack) for further playing. And, the only Novation I've played on is the A-Station, which I liked the sounds, but the 2-digit display is bloody confusing if you don't have a manual. Anyway, can you suggest any other synths that are sort of the top of the line as far as pads go? I'm looking for plenty of realtime control, too, and the occassional lead of course. Other than that, nice keys is a plus but not essential, as would a vocoder. Thanks for any advice!