[DaveZ]

First off, I am new to the world of digital audio recording.
I didn't want to make the newbie mistake of asking a question that has been asked 50 times already, so I searched for the answer before asking the question.
If I missed it in the forum, my apologies.
I also apologize for the length of this post, but I thought I should give too much info rather than not enough.

What I am trying to do is record 2 guitars and a PA on 3 separate tracks so that I can EQ and tweak them after recording.

I have been using a cheap Behringer mixer to send these 3 mic signals to my mac via USB.
The behringer output (rca cables) is connected to a small Xitel inPort device that converts the signal to USB.
The USB goes into the mac, and I record using Audacity.
This is great for what I am doing but the 3 channels are "summed" into one stereo track that is recorded to the mac.
Even though I try to get a good level before recording, inevitably, one of the guitars or the PA comes out too high in the final summed stereo track.

What I want to do is record multiple tracks, live, simultaneously so that each mic is on its own independent track.

I researched a bunch of USB and firewire enabled mixers, but was not sure about their functionality.

Then I had a buddy give me a Digi 002.

I do not have ProTools, nor do I want it.
The learning curve looks fairly steep, and for what I am doing that would be massive overkill.
Audacity is fine for my situation.

I started devouring info from this forum trying to determine what I needed to do in order to use the 002 for this purpose.

I have been able to use the 002 in stand-alone mode and send the output out over the RCA cables to the Xitel inPort adapter that converts the signal to USB.
In this scenario (stand-alone mode) the 002 acts just like the cheap behringer mixer mentioned above, sending the 3 tracks summed to the mac for recording in Audacity

My question is regarding the Digi 002 and using firewire to get the audio to my mac WITHOUT using ProTools.
I can send multiple tracks to Audacity but I can't set the level of the input for recording in Audacity.

My setup is very simple,I use:

3 shure SM-58 type mics to mic the 2 guitar amps and the PA.
These connect via XLR to channels 1-3 on the Digi 002.
The correct buttons are pushed for a mic input rather than a line in.
The gain on channels 1-3 is set at about 2 o'clock on the gain knob.

The 002 is connected via firewire to the macbook pro (intel) running snow leopard.
I am using a belkin cable for connecting the mac's firewire 800 to the 002's firewire 400.
I have the core-audio driver installed (for snow leopard, v 8.0.3).
I take the 002 out of stand-alone mode and put it into standby mode.
I use the core-audio driver to "connect" to the 002, the scribble strips display "Working..."

The mac can see the 002 and use it for input.
In Audacity, I select to use 3 (of the 18) channels available.
I can record 3 tracks simultaneously, with each mic showing up as its own track.
My issue is that the level can't be set for input into Audacity.

When the digi 002 is in "working" mode, none of the faders can adjust volume.
In Audacity, I can adjust the gain on the individual tracks to get the level a little higher, but it seems to introduce more hiss as well.

I am hoping I am doing something wrong, some little thing that, in my inexperience, I have overlooked.

Please school me...

Thank You