Are you looking for a hardware solution such a Zoom recorder? They have multiple models that can record 4+ channels (and one that can connect direct to an iphone. Some camcorder models offer 5.1 surround sound (integrated mics) too.

As mentioned, you need a sound interface that accepts at least four DISCRETE channel inputs. An ordinary 5.1 card will not work for this.

Not sure if your system has this or not. My desktop computer has rear and front stereo mic inputs that are independent of each other on the built in motherboard's sound system. Although I don't know how to accomplish 4 independent channels with Sony Movie Studio, I also have Sony Acid Music Studio 9.0 and it allows you to assign your various sound inputs available on your computer to each audio track. You can pick up version 9 for a song (no pun intended - $23). I also have version 8 which does the same thing (Amazon $19). So, if your motherboard has independent front and rear stereo inputs, for a few bucks (even current version 10 for $39) you can do what you want to do. You just have to move the files over to Movie Studio when your done. Maybe not your first choice, but still a choice if your inputs allow this approach.

Thanks for this and the other replies. I wasn't clear in what I have for hardware and what I'm looking for. I have the hardware. It's an RME Multiface which connects to my XP laptop via the Express Card slot. It has as many audio ins and outs as I need and then some. I am trying to find a software solution using either Vegas Movie or another program that allows me to capture video (in this case a simple Logitech webcam) and at least 4 tracks of audio at the same time. Currently, I use Cyberlink Power Director 8 to capture the video and 2 tracks of audio. For some reason it allows me to select the Multifaces audio inputs whereas Vegas Movie (Platinum 11) either doesn't allow or has been too complicated in the past.
So I look for a software solution that will allow me to do this live rather than having to sync a separate audio program with the video later.

I don't think Movie Studio 11 (or 12 or 13 for that matter) will allow more than 2 audio channels for capture with video. Does anyone know whether or not Vegas Pro can do it?

I'm pretty sure it's been discussed in the Vegas Pro forums and the conclusion has been that it won't. Vegas itself can record many multiple tracks when recording audio, but VidCap is a separate program that is much less robust.

Thanks for the replies. I wonder if anyone knows of a way to tell Vegas Movie to use a separate audio recording program to do the audio capturing. For example, I'm using Reaper right now for multi track audio and I wonder if there might be a way to tell VMS to start Reapers audio recording when VMS starting capturing video?

Yes, apparently you can change the video/audio capture program.

I have SMS 12 Platinum.

Go to "Options"-->"Preferences". Select the "Video" tab. Point to your video capture program in the field below "Use external video capture application:".

Unfortunately, you may have to capture twice, once for video, then switch to Reaper, then capture again to get your multi-channel audio. Slight pain inconvenience; however, it looks as though it can be done.

I forgot to mention I'm speaking about capturing live.

In that case i'd set up a separate multichannel audio recording rig. I picked up an inexpensive TASCAM US-1800 that has 16 channels of audio input and connects to the PC via USB. I can set up a Vegas project to record all 16 channels simultaneously on separate tracks. While this is going i can use VidCap to capture the video along with the camera's stereo audio. Afterward i can line up the extra audio tracks with the camera's audio in a few moments.

That may be the only way to go for now. I already have multi-track audio software and could then capture with another program. I still hope one of these days someone will tell me about an inexpensive software program that does just adds a couple more live audio captures tracks.

RE: syncing audio

Trust me ... it *really* isn't all that hard ... give it a try and see.

You'll need to expand (left to right) the timeline sufficiently to see the waveforms (but don't go overboard and expand too far) Then it is just a matter of sliding tracks back and forth until the waveforms match up.

This assumes that each track has the same info. If not then you will need a starting point (clap, slam or other 'single point' sound) to match up that appears on every track. Doing this at the beginning of recording is usually the best way.

If you can't do this .... it still may be possible to sync (maybe not perfectly, but sometimes good enough)

EDIT: re-reading your original question ... you seem to want to record *everything* on your computer. Doing this may make things harder than they should be. A small, fairly inexpensive digital recorder might be a *lot* easier way to go.