Boss BR 600 limitations? Help!

[toner1]

My dad bought a boos br 600 a few years ago to do some recording as one may guess, and now I am chained to it due to lack of money(I am in highschool) and convenience. I am confused about some things.
All I need to be able to do is record 5/6 tracks: 3/4 with external condenser mic tracks (1/2 vocals, and 2 guitars(amp)(I will buy a phantom power adaptor)), and 2 just plugged right into the thing(bass and E-drums). I plan to record all of these separately. Is this possible? I read somewhere that it says "The tracks are arranged as four mono and two stereo tracks, rather than eight wholly independent mono tracks, but there's a full quota of 64 virtual tracks so alternative takes can be stored" What does that mean?

-so with that info, can somebody tell me if I can record ALL of my tracks?
-And what does the quote mean?

 

[mjbphotos]

Being in high school is the perfect time to learn how to learn. First download and read the manual. Get it HERE

You can record up to 64 virtual tracks (actually 32 mono tracks and 16 stereo tracks) on the BR600, but not really - to mix down more than 4 mono + 2 stereo tracks you have to 'bounce' tracks (i.e. mix several down) to a common stereo track), then mix down more tracks with that 'bounced' track, etc.If you have just 6 total tracks you want to do , then you don't need to do any bouncing.

Use the 'first layer' - first virtual track - on each track for the following:
Record Vocal 1 to track 1 (mono)
Record Vocal 2 to track 2 (mono)
Record Guitar 1 to track 3 (mono)
Record Guitar 4 to track 4 (mono)
Record Bass to track 5/6 - this is a streo track, but that doesn't matter, your left and right will be the same mono bass source
Record e-drums to track 7/8 - if your edrums have a stereo output, this will be a stereo track, otherwise it will be a mono one

Mix all down (using 'bounce' option) to track 7/8 virtual track 2. This track now contains your mixed song, you can then use the internal mastering if you choose.

At any point you can put the BR600 into USB mode and export any of the tracks, or all of them, to your computer as WAV or AICC then mix them in a DAW such as Reaper.