First part of this basic series on sample editing is the notion that no matter what sampler you use the most important thing to keep in mind is the samples you use. Whether the sample is good or not will have a big effect on how your music sounds. You can make great music with the right samples from a keyboard workstation like motif, a four track player, software sampler like battery, SP505, or a mpc the most important thing I state again is the samples you use in your composition.
Now to the subject at hand what is a sample?? Most users have phrases on the brain like a drum loop, groove loop, and such consisting of a bar or two bar meter of music that they want to trim,timestretch or timeslice like recycle to fit into a loop based composition which is cool but that is not what we are talking about here.
A SAMPLE is a single note of an instrument like a A, C, Eb, or G notes of a sax, violin, guitar, or kick drum even. Many of us have edited a drum sample kick, snare, hihat and all but instrument note samples their hasn`t been much discussion on the board for the reasons I stated before. Phrases on the brain which is why alot of different mpc users are fiending for a 5k or dismissing the keygroup programs of the 4k as unnessary.
A sample is a single note in my definition and in a sense the reason a sampler was invented in the first place to recreate the sound of real acoustic instruments which the synths of yesterday couldn`t accurately reproduce. A sample can be layered, merged, blended with other notes of different instruments at the same or different pitches if you wish. You can really shape your sound by your choice of sampled notes.
That is it for now I will return later. Remember a phrase is different from a sample.
A sample is a single note from a instrument or

your table pounding if you wish.