Read the Minilab Manual (you'll have to scroll down a bit): I've been watching instructional videos all day but still can't seem to figure it out :/ I hope this kind of made sense.

I find that I barely get to touch the midi when attempting to lay down a track in ableton. Then how do I record and loop them on the midi controller and in ableton. My next issue is that I don't know how to program beats to the beat pads on the minilab so I can manually drum. The minilab is set as the controller in ableton so I don't really understand. I can use the ableton sounds in ableton but those don't connect to my midi controller or I can use analog lab sounds that work on my controller but aren't coming through in ableton. I've messed around with both programs but I don't understand how to get the analog lab sounds into ableton. Minilab comes with the midi controller, ableton lite and analog lab. Here's the problem, I'm an absolute beginner literally started learning ableton this week. I'm psyched but when I plugged it in I realized I know nothing. I got an arturia minilab mk II for Christmas.

Arturia minilab mk2 tutorial