Thank you guys for the feedback. And yes, I think the best was at 96 actually. The samples are not actually reversed, although I could see why you would think that. The envelope settings on the velocity have a slower attack.
As for the spacey part that comes in at the chorus, is actually just an effect I came across. Usually I prefer playing stuff like that out with a synth, but the effect seemed to fit at the time, although the timing is off.
I agree, the shaker sounding "hat" or whatever makes the drums sound even more off. That needs to go. I may just redo the drums completely.
Usually I just try to get a rough idea out of my head and into the DAW, put it together, and move on. After 9 months of getting into music prediction, I'm still not at the point where I'm making stuff I'm 100% happy with. I'll spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 4-5 hours on something and it's on to the next one.
Recently I'm finally starting to make some things that are good enough to go back to to touch up or change.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm about to go into work. I'll check the links later when I can listen to them on something other than my phone speakers.