Need Shopping Advice

I've noticed that once I have 10 or so instances of Dimension Pro running I get 2 second latency from my digital piano. My computer is dying anyway. It hangs and crashes getting into Windows half the time and blue screens from time to time. I'm planning on building a new computer.

Anyway, I need help choosing my audio interface.

I currently have an EMU 0202. It works OK but has no software patchmix and sometimes has to be turned off and back on a few times before Windows will see it. I also wonder if contributes to my latency issues.

Currently, I just have a condenser microphone and a digital keyboard. I'm probably going to need future inputs for a guitar, an electronic drum set, and an additional digital keyboard. (One keyboard with hammered action and the other with no weighting system at all.)

I've looked around and it seems like the cards that have 2 midi in ports also have a zillion other things that I don't need, so I'll probably either daisy chain my midi or get a usb midi cable and bypass my audio interface. I'm not sure what kind of inputs I'll need for the guitar or electronic drum set.

I don't understand if PCI is needed for low latency with a lot of tracks or if it's only needed for simultaneously recording a bunch of stuff at the same time. If it's only going to be useful for recording a lot at once, then I won't need it. If on the other hand, it's needed for low latency when a lot of tracks are playing and just one thing is being recorded, then I do need it.

I've also looked at audio interfaces combined into mixers. They seem to be overpriced and as I haven't used hardware mixer in the past, I don't really see the benefit. (At least not at the prices I've been seeing.)

I have been considering buying a Behringer BCF2000 just to figure out what's "so great about control surfaces" http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-BCF2000-BControl-Fader?sku=701763

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I've observed that people who buy Behringer because of its low price, are usually not satisfied with the performance and durability of the product.

If you are a dedicated Sonar user, why not look at the devices bundled with Sonar?

@kwgm You're talking about the control surface for the V-Studio 700 right?

I would love to try it out, but not for the price of the entire bundle. As I said I'm not sure I see the benefit of control surfaces that justifies their high cost, so I wouldn't be willing to fork over the cash at this point. Beyond that, the audio interface seems to have a lot more than what I need as far as input/output. I haven't seen any samples of the Fantom sounds, but I don't know that it offers more than say, Komplete 2. So if I were to buy the whole package, I would be getting Sonar 8, which I already have, an audio interface that is overkill for what I need and a control surface that looks cool, but I don't understand how to justify its cost.

I'm sure the V-Studio would satisfy my needs but I bet I can get all I need for a fraction of the cost.

By the way, has anyone seen a place to purchase the control surface from the V-Studio separate from the rest of the package?