Audacity and multiple Firepods

[Noonster]

Hi everyone,
I'm having a go at trying to use Audacity to make live multitrack recordings. I've downloaded & installed the 1.2.13 beta version as the stated improved features include support for recording more than 16 tracks (I have three Presonus Firepods with latest firmware updates). I don't know if I'm missing something obvious but I can't work out how to configure Audacity to 'talk to these devices and assign them to invidual multiple record tracks. On the 'Audio devices info' tab I can see that Audacity has registered the Firepods. The input level control is inactive and if I open Windows volume control it says there is a problem with my hardware, yet if I troubleshoot them in Control Panel it says they are working correctly. I use two Firepods (16 inputs) with Cool Edit Pro 2 without problem and one with Cubase LE (Limited to 8 inputs). I haven't found anything in the manual or FAQs that tells how to record anything other than stereo or L/R mono. Am I pushing the envelope too far or missing something? Any help much appreciated. Btw the PC is a Sony VAIO 2Ghz running XP Pro
Trev

[steve]

Audacity currently only supports one input and one output device.
If your sound card has multiple input channels then you should be able to record from all of the input channels by setting the number of input channels that your device has in "Edit menu > Preferences > Devices". Whether or not this works is largely dependant on the availability of suitable multi-channel Windows drivers for your device (Audacity does not come with ASIO support due to licensing restrictions).
Playback output is currently limited to mono or stereo, though multichannel files may be exported for playback in other software (Edit menu > Preferences > Import/Export > Use Custom Mix)