I would like the plugin to remember which pads are currently held and in which order they were pressed, as to continue playing pads that haven't been released where they had left off.

That way, say I'm sampling the alphabet (26 letters, 16 pads),
I put a pad on every other letter starting with A, C, E...

I can't make the sampler say the letter B alone, but at least I can make it say A,C,B in that order, By holding A, pressing C for one letter's length, releasing C, and the plugin continuing where it was on the A Pad.