can someone help? meters redlining no matter what i do

can someone help? meters redlining no matter what i do--new, trying to record drum loop from Casio to play guitar to. Settings seem fine in Preferences but the sound input meter on audio 1 and on master is topping out even when i adjust the gain nothing changes.using audio front mic input-casio is at medium audio output

You can also control the input level at the source device - in this case the Casio. Turn the Casio audio output even lower. I imagine the Casio outputs are line level which will overload the microphone input. Need to connect the Casio audio out to line level inputs. Maybe you could record the MIDI output of the Casio? Then play the midi track with a drum synth to get sound to play along with. --Larry

I jumped to the conclusion that the "Casio" you mentioned as a source of drum loops was a Casio keyboard. Maybe not. If you are totally unfamiliar with Midi then maybe you should stick to recording audio. In any case, a description of your hardware and software would be useful, along with how you are connecting the various pieces. PC; operating system; sound card; external devices; software synths; etc. --Larry

this video might clear a few things up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k83UVo1OiKA

this is a video I made called :basic midi.
its notgoing to teach you rocket science but it will give you an inside look at how midi is toyed with.

Maybe someday we will find out whether the OP was trying to record audio or midi! His first post sure sounded like audio recording. Still waiting to hear about his setup and what's connected to what and what he's really trying to do....