what is the best way to sample a beat
It depends on the beat and what you want to do with it, like if you want a proper loop all you need to do is calculate it's length based on it's tempo and cut it to that, most people on here wouldn't know shit about that and they would just be ruff cutting their loops by ear like folks did in the olden days because hardware samplers displayed time in gibberish numbers based on sample rate, or they would be relying on software and luck to get it right.
Cutting loops and chops right by ear isn't that hard as long as you got the right ear.
I will usually just do it by ear and adjust the tempo accordingly. There are a few tools you can use though (depending on what you use), in fl studio you can right click where the tempo is displayed and click tap. That will bring up the 'tempo tap' tool. Play the sample, tap on each beat and the tempo will adjust. Another option is to download the free version of virtual dj and then drag and drop the desired sample into it and with most songs it will find the tempo for you. Hope this helps.The hard thing I found about sampling and using it is to find the right tempo of the sample. Is there a tool to do it or you guys are doing it by ear?
I will usually just do it by ear and adjust the tempo accordingly. There are a few tools you can use though (depending on what you use), in fl studio you can right click where the tempo is displayed and click tap. That will bring up the 'tempo tap' tool. Play the sample, tap on each beat and the tempo will adjust. Another option is to download the free version of virtual dj and then drag and drop the desired sample into it and with most songs it will find the tempo for you. Hope this helps.
To work shit out with a stopwatch and calculator.
60 / seconds x beats = BPM
For example, 60 / 2.526 x 4 = 95 BPM
Unless you get lucky I doubt very much that if I asked you to make a 1 bar loop at 95 BPM that you would be able to cut it to exactly 2.526 sec just by ear
I often use a stopwatch and calculator to find the tempo, which is basically how tap tempo works.
Using the stopwatch I can see the length of the measure (or loop) whereas tap tempo hides that information, I also don't need to open up my DAW to find a tempo but most importantly understanding the relationship between tempo and length means I can archive a higher degree of accuracy thus eliminating the skewing that occurs towards the back end with a mismatched tempo.
If you are using tap tempo I would recommend that rather than tap from beat to beat you tap over a longer duration such as a bar and adjust the tempo accordingly, the idea is that you reduce the errors that are inherent when timing a short duration such as from beat to beat, so you time 1 bar with 2 taps instead of 5 taps to measure 4 very short spaces within the same measure of 1 bar.
To work shit out with a stopwatch and calculator.
60 / seconds x beats = BPM
For example, 60 / 2.526 x 4 = 95 BPM