Trouble with special cancels

[Stfuppercut!]

I have Had mkx now for a few days and have been hitting training mode pretty hard,
I only played a little of mk9 but spent months on injustice.
So coming into this game I expecting combos to work a lot like injustice which I see now is not the case.

Currently I am using Takada and trying to cancel his normals into his special some moves come out fine 100% of the time such as his exploding knife, but others like his chain spear I can never seem to cancel into.

Can anyone offer advice on ways to get it constant, when should I be inputting the special for the cancel is it a specific frame or window I have to do it?

Thanks

 

[CMass]

Ive came across this problem as well with cancelling strings into quan chi's trance. basic example: 12xTrance. Ive noticed that when i hold down the last motion of trance which is forward, i never drop it. Try holding down the last motion of the special move and tell me how that works out. Hope i explained that clear enough.