What ARP said ( and make sure to order the manual so you can understand what this machine is capable of doing), and here's how to make it happen:
Doesn't matter what channel you're plugged in to, just where you finally route your signal.
Assuming you realize your pan must be all the way to the left for odd number channels (1,3,5,7) and all the way right for even numbers (2,4,6,8), to send your signal to...
Track 1, pan all the way to the left, push button group 1-2 to "in" position or channel you are putting your signal through (the CHANNEL # where you record your signal into has NOTHING to do with the track you are going to send it to...don't get confused on this).
Tr. 2, pan right, push button 1-2 in and push "2" so track 2 is flashing in your meter window
Tr.3, pan left, push button 3-4 and push "3"...
skip,
skip,
skip,
Tr. 7, pan left, push button 3-4 to "in" position on your input channel, push "7" button under your meter screen.
The biggest thing is not confusing a channel you are recording into with a "track". Once you are comfortable with this separation, it will be easy. In other words, you can use channel 1 to record all 8 tracks. Or channel 4. It doesn't matter really which channel you record into.