My guess is that your in/out matrix settings need attention. (Studio One>>Preferences>>Song Setup>>Audio I/O Setup.) Make sure your input/output routing is all setup correctly.
Part of the reason for lack of responses to your post might be minimal information about the nature of your problem, things you have tried, specifics about your setup, etc. It is also a weekend, and a lot of people are out jobbing. When people think they may be able to help, they'll chime in, but sometimes that can take a while, so be patient.
Check with the house sound person. If their board has direct outs or unused insert points, you can use those to feed your SL for recording. Then all you need to do is get the appropriate cables/adapters to get the job done.
Don't have the AI, but I have heard many reports that the audio quality is noticably better with the AIs (which amazes me, as I was always pretty floored by the quality of the original).
Do you have "FireStudio" selected as the audio device in both programs? In S1 is your I/O setup configured properly? Are the tracks armed to record? (Forgive me for asking some of the most obvious, but sometimes newcomers aren't well versed in getting things setup to go with their systems.)
Love mine. Does a lot, very compact. I've tried using larger control surfaces, but I always wind up going back to the faderport because it takes up so little space, and I don't really need to control a lot of tracks simultaneously.
I think the above solution is the best way to go, but, at least in theory, several of these strung together will do it. The unknown is whether the FW buss would supply enough power for 6 of those in-line repeaters, or whether it would fail because of that. At least on paper, a series of repeaters should make it work. No guarantees from me, though. YMMV.
Yeah, Matt is one of the good guys -- and I see, Matt, that you've crossed the 3K mark just ahead of me (not that it was a contest, mind you). Congrats!