Im a new user to the sp 404 sx, just a little info ( im strictly hardware) all i have is the sp404sx to make beats so its becoming a little hard to sample when i find a great melody i want to use but i cant use it because the drums in the background are not mixing with the drums i want to layer over it, is there a way i can mute the background drums or noise in my loops? im starting to think im going to need a computer with a program to do alot of things... but i truly want to learn my sp front and back before i move forward. Please help

You can adjust the volume of each pad to kill the volume entirely if needed. But there's no dedicated mute function. There's no mute groups for open and closed hi-hats either.

Im starting to see this now.. lol i mean i know exactly how to remove background noise with fruity loops but i currently dont have a comp so im trying to do what i can with just the sp until i get my new computer,,, i have files and files of samples i lost. Its hard out here for a pimp. Thanx for the reply man.

I think he's talking about muting the drums that are already in the sampled loop. If it's the case then the answer is no, you can't. You can play with the EQ to lower certain frequencies or put the frequencies you want up front but that's it. Your loop is one audio file so when you apply an effect, it applies to the whole loop/file.
You can probably do what you want to do with a computer but you will need a special software for that I imagine. Im not sure these days

yeah i beginning to believe the same , my friend showed me on ableton how to, its a special plug in, but im strictly hardware atm and even though its a bit challenging at times you forces me to be creative which is awesome, thanks for the tips, just was wondering if there was a work around or not

there's a good chance it'll sound like shit even if you found a way (via computer most likely) to almost completely remove the drum sounds. the frequency in the drums will also represent other nice frequencies of the sample. you'll have to remove a lot of the sample, which can work but sometimes will make it sound just strange. the 404 won't get as close to removing the drum frequency as a computer program will.

try keeping the drums in there, it'll probably give your sound a special spark to it!