So here's deal, I recently invested in the Firebox which came with the Cubase LE software. I had borrowed some mics from a friend and had the whole thing working pretty well for basic things like acoustic guitar, voice, and electric guitar. But now I no longer have access to the microphones and am stuck looking for some. Not only that but I want to widen my options of recording with multiple microphones for drums. If you're not familiar with the firebox, it only has 2 mic inputs, two instrument inputs, midi input, and is connected to the computer through a firewire. I was thinking about maybe getting a larger, possibly used, mixer with atleast 5-8 microphone inputs and then connecting that to one of the channels on the firebox (this would elminate my ability to pan though wouldn't it?). Maybe leaving the other mic input and 2 instrument inputs for multiple things being recorded or used as scratch tracks incase I'm recording with another musian. I don't even know if this is possible, because I am still new to the whole recording thing. Also for microphones I was thinking about purchasing would be a set of drum mics (again a 5-8 set) and then using those for guitars and vocals and stuff (probably the cymbal mics or snare mic i'm guessing would be best?). And preamps ? Haha, I don't even know where to start with those!

What do you guys think? Would it be worth going through all this or would I be better off saving money and getting somthing along the lines of a Firepod. As for mics, would anyone recommend doing that, or should I buy like, a kick drum mic, a nice condensor and just a couple of Shure 58's or somthin?

Anyway thanks for your time to anyone that reads this! It's greatly appreciated!