total beginner questions about SP 404 !!!

[resonator]

so i just got myself a SP 404. i am a synth type, and this is my first sampler, and i really like the SP 404.

so i tried to record some samples to play them as a seamless loop. but i have some problems to chop my samples so that when they play as a loop the transition is smooth without this cracking or jumping sound... so i used the mark button, and the fine adjustments knobs, but at this stage it seems i cannot tell by ear (!) if i should chop my sample at the beginning or the end or both, or whether i should turn ctrl 1 and ctrl 2 toward the + or minus (and how many times), to get that seamless smooth loop !!!

true enough, i did get some nicely seamless loops but i feel i got that by sheer luck !!!

any tip or idea, or is it normal at the beginning ???

my second question is about pattern sequencing, if i quantize say for 8 that means i must tap the pad twice per beat (if quant is set for 16 that would be 4 times per beat !!), how do you do that so that the pad voice falls at the right timing ???

besides that, i feel obscurely that this machine is probably the best to learn timing, as the only clue is sonic and not visual like in other top shelf samplers, and so i guess it is all good !!!!

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

After a while you'll get used to chopping samples so that they loop right, I remember when I first got my 303 and took it to my friends house who produced some ill tracks with the mpc and played him my first loop and it sounded a little off to me and I asked him how to fix it and he just said yo man it just doesn't loop from the last bar to the first too well. Ever since then I just listened to the hi-hats because I can tell if the drummer is playing 1/4,1/8,or 1/16 notes and then I just count each one out for how ever many bars I need.
For the second question, if you have it quantized to 1/8th notes then that means there are 8 notes in one bar, if it's on 1/16th note quantize then there will be 16 notes in one bar and so on. Try putting your hi-hats on 1/8th notes, your snares on the 2 and 4 notes and your kicks on the 1 and 3.