WHERE IS THE UNDO BUTTON?!?! Haha jk. Yeah, i am a noob though. My problem is that whenever I sample anything using the synth sampler, i can never use the full sample. There is a small section of audio at the begging of the sample that is always grayed out, no matter what i try. The encoders will only adjust my playback start point to a certain point. This is happening whether i sample from the input jack, radio, or even lifting track sections from the tape and dropping them into the sampler. I am thinking about doing a factory reset, but maybe i am just missing something stupid?
there is no undo! what’s your LFO screen showing?
Honestly, I’m not in front of the unit now but I’m like 96.8% sure the LFO is OFF. This visual might help me explain the issue. 
It may only seem like a little bit of audio is cutoff, but depending on your sample, that extra second is CRUCIAL (like say, when you are lifting multiple tracks in a loop and dropping it into the sampler).
leftover Crank could do that to your sample 
What does that mean and how do you go about fixing it?
leftover Crank could do that to your sample :)
Use the shif button