Finding the bpm!

Ok this may be a very simple procedure but i am finding it really hard to find the bpm of melody's, bass lines etc.. that i have sampled. Can anyone help me out? oh one other thing i've tried using the tap tempo (tapping it in time with beat, at least i thnk thats how u use it) however it will not stay on a specific bpm and keeps jumping from say 96.5 to 110 to 65? I have used other tap tempo devices to calculate the bpm of most of my records so i do know how to tap in time! (just in case u thought i was a retard!)
Thanx in advance.

hahaha hmm well id unno wutsup with the tap tempo button on ur MPC..but a very simple and logical way is this..count how many beats there are in ur sample and time how many seconds it lasts for, and figure out how many beats would hit if the sample played nonstop for 60 seconds. for example, if u had a 4 beat sample (1 bar) that lasted say, 5 seconds, 60 seconds (1 min) / 5 seconds = 12, so 4 beats X 12 = 48 beats over 60 seconds, or 1 minute. therefore ur BPM is 48BPM. goodluck

just put the sample in loop mode...turn it "on"( .... in the loops screen)
...go to parameters in the trim screen...
.
put in the correct amount of beats.... 4beats equals 1 bar...
.
.
and just read the bpm you see...

.
.
then you can turn off the loop function or leave it on... however you loop your beats....

when I follow your steps.....both tempos are blank....the only way I can get a tempo read is if in teh Trim screen, I hit edit...then do a BPM match....is this another way to do it or am I doing the wrong thing?

The best way to measure is by first finding how long you want the sample. After you chop the sample and find how long you want the loop then use this it as your measurement to find the bar length. Then match and tune with the mpc features.