New to dancing games, what's a "soft pad"?

[dontcareaboutmyid]

cobalt flux that was the one

i'm saving up for one of those

whati hate about the soft pads is that they slide. i need shoe traction in order to do the more difficult songs. heavy tsugaru and burning heat and whatnot are practically impossible without shoes. in fact anything that has constant streams is hard (rythm and police heavy) arcade, quite easy. hey anyone wanna send me some spare chage to help the cobalt d-pad fund???

jk