Aite', it's not really hard, I know that.

But the drums always sound choppy and not really clean.
Back in the days I used attack and decay to get them right.

Any suggestions for the sp-404 to get the drums clean and hard knockin'?

a simple 1/8 hi hat can make choppy sounding drums flow better. Reverb can help, your very own fade out with subsonic trick can attack/decay drums- its a pain in the ass to get it right though

I think everyone probably takes a fair amount of time to get the chops where they want them.

cabasa percussion, shaker or sample air from the beginning of the record...