Having trouble tracking out my beats to Pro Tools M-Powered

Ok first let me apologize if some of these questions are extremely newbie-ish, I just installed Pro Tools M-Powered and I'm having a difficult time getting it up and running.

I have a few questions you all might be able to help me out with.

1. How am I suppose to know how many tracks to create in Pro Tools? If I have 5 tracks in my MP, does that mean it's 5 tracks? How am I suppose to tell which tracks are Mono/Stereo?

2. How come I can only record two tracks in Pro Tools, track 1 and 2. When I go to record tracks 3, 4, etc... there is no audio signal. What do I have to do to be able to record on tracks 3, 4, etc...

3. When I am actually able to record, the levels are are too low, how do I change this other than turning up the volume on my mixer?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Changed my question to hopefully get better results...

I'm as new as you are on the MPC, but I do know my pro-tools.

1. How am I suppose to know how many tracks to create in Pro Tools? If I have 5 tracks in my MP, does that mean it's 5 tracks? How am I suppose to tell which tracks are Mono/Stereo? :

You can create up to 32 tracks (mono, 16 in stereo) in pro tools M-powered. You decide what you want to keep on different tracks. The more tracks you have, the more flexibility you keep when mixing down. I would suggest to record each track in your mpc to a different track in Pro-tools.
The main outputs from the MPC are stereo, so if you are recording them, record in stereo. If you are recording individual outputs, record in mono. It's that simple. It depends on the tracks in the MPC, if they are stereo (main stereo outs, or two individual outs panned hard left and right), keep them in stereo, otherwise go mono.
Personally, I think stereo tracks are overrated, I'd rather create my own stereo image by mixing and panning several mono tracks. But that's down to preference.

2. How come I can only record two tracks in Pro Tools, track 1 and 2. When I go to record tracks 3, 4, etc... there is no audio signal. What do I have to do to be able to record on tracks 3, 4, etc...

You have to assign the inputs from your soundcard to whatever track it is you are recording to. Pro-tools automatically assigns soundcard inputs 3&4 to track 3&4, but you are recording through input 1&2. You can change that in the mixer in Pro-tools. I suppose you are using a M-audio soundcard, which one? I have the Audiophile PCI, and tracks 1&2 are the analogue inputs, and 3&4 are the digital inputs. So if I want to record my analogue inputs, I assign input 1&2 to each track I want to record.

3. When I am actually able to record, the levels are are too low, how do I change this other than turning up the volume on my mixer?

Change the volume going in your soundcard. You could turn the output volume of the MPC up, but be carefull not to overload the inputs of your soundcard. You can monitor the levels coming in through the M-audio Soundcard control panel. Check these levels while your mpc is playing, and adjust the mpc volume so it's in the upper part of the green on the m-audio monitor mixer, tickling the yellow every now and then. Never ever get it in the red, because it will sound horrible.

I hope this was helpfull? You might wanna google around for the following terms : Gain Structure, m-audio monitor mixer, Pro-tools track assign.

Cheers, Da k-man

Thanks for your help Dunwar, can you go more in depth on number 2? I use a FireWire Solo. How do I get Pro Tools to assign my soundcard inputs to 1 & 2? Do I do this in Pro Tools or in my FireWire Solo mixer?

You do this in Pro-Tools. You need to go to the mixer view, and have the I/O option visible. It is located just above the Panner Sliders, and just below the Send block. There you can choose what inputs to use, and what outputs to use.
You can also name them, when you go to the I/O menu. You'll find that under the heading Setup -> IO.

The digidesign pro-tools reference guide (supplied in PDF with your installation) also has a very good chapter about IO. I suggest you look that up too.