OK - I have way more equipment than I need and have made mistake after mistake in purchasing and getting in over my head with stuff I probably don't need. Can you help or make suggestions?

Here's what I want to do: In my home, I play acoustic guitar and sing. Occasionally I have a buddy come over and want to play/sing too. I want to get the cleanest recording possible - usually just one track - me and my guitar live. But sometimes adding tracks and/or other live instruments/vocals.

I've got the Tascam 2488, a PreSonus Firebox 6x8, and a MacBook Pro with GarageBand. I can't seem to be able to plugin more than one mic/instrument into the Firebox and be able to hear both of them in the Mac. I can plugin one and hear it, but not two. Am I doing something wrong? So - because of that, I go into the 2488 with both inputs, then output to the Firebox, then output to the Mac firewire connection and recording in GarageBand.

The issue with this set-up, is that I have to max the levels on the Tascam, the Firebox, and the Mac/Garage to get any decent type of volume in recording. This can't be right. Am I missing a pre-amp somewhere? Remember, I'm SUPER AMATEUR and just don't get this stuff.

Should I be able to plugin two things to the Firebox and have them both out put simultaneously to the Mac? That way bypassing the stupid 2488?

Is there any combination of what I already own that can give me my goal of clean and easy recording?

BTW - I don't like using the 2488 for recording directly. It was too confusing, too many options, and I hated the process of getting it off that machine and into something I could listen to in the car or computer.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Morgan