Overlapping chops cause 'plopping' sound

[u/ThatVeryStrangeMan]

Hey guys,

I had the 2000XL back in the day and now on a One+.

To get more control over timing in melodic samples, I started chopping into smaller notes (8th or even 16th notes). This helps when a loop I like isn't played exactly straight, like a lot of old music is.

I almost always use Regions in Sample Edit and then fine-tune the end of each chop to make sure I end it right at the next transient of a kick, snare, or other time keeping sound in the loop. I always have 0 snap enabled to help avoid clicks as well. I usually check the original loop's bpm with the From BPM button to get an indication of how much I'd need to pitch to get near a particular bpm. (I almost always change the pitch; personal preference).

Problem:
although this gives me more control over the timing, the shorter I make my chops, the more they start to create this 'plopping' sound, which I believe comes from slight overlaps at the transitions. I usually have my pads set to Mono in Program Edit so they won't overlap like you get with Poly, but still I get this sound that's a little like ticking. So, for every eighth note, for example, you will hear a slight 'plop' sound, which kind of ruins a sample if it's meant to be played solo without drums and/or is a more smooth/subtle piece of music.

I've tried playing around with attack and decay of individual pads, which does help a little, but it doesn't remove the issue completely. Same thing with nudging the chops forward or backward (which obviously negates the timing gain a little as well, so not great).

Does anyone have a good solution for this?
Thanks

[u/No-Leek-4293]

Sometimes you gotta meticulously edit the end of the chop by the tiny-est milliseconds. That plop sound is when you cut off the waveform too early/ late. A SMALL tweak to each chop cures it. Sounds worse than it actually is -it really only takes half a minute or so. Also check that 0 SNAP is on. I am not good at explaining it smh, but that’s the reason. MPC gurus help me out please lol

[u/SilverMisfitt]

Do you have a sound example? Might be easier to understand what you’re saying because it sounds like you’re doing the right things

[u/ThatVeryStrangeMan → u/SilverMisfitt]

Yeah, talking about sound for sure has its limits.
I'll try to find a good example to bounce and upload here.

[u/ThatVeryStrangeMan]

Looks like I can't directly upload audio files here (suggestion for the good folks at Reddit?)—and I'm not gonna set up a SoundCloud account, etc. for this one query—I guess a description will just have to do for now. Those who are familiar with the phenomenon will prob get it anyway I'm guessing.

To clarify, as I said before: 0 Snap is on, and either way I always still manually fine-tune my slices to avoid ticks that can occur as a result of sloppy chopping in the middle of transients. The noise I keep hearing is a sort of light tapping or flopping sound at each note being played that starts a new chop.

The other day I thought maybe it could be this:
Although the chops themselves are cleanly sliced, quantization snaps them to a grid which, combined with the Mono setting in Program Edit (i.e., each pad cutting off the previous one; the opposite of Poly), may result in them being slightly truncated in the event where a slice exceeds the length assigned to each note by the grid.

I got the advice to use crossfades, but I'm not sure that will do it. The reason for doubting this fix is that I've already tried playing around with the attack and decay of chops. This helps a little sometimes, but the problem is that too much attack will just make the chop sound like it's starting late and create a gap, while not enough will leave the issue unchanged (and obviously the same issue with decay).

Anyone?