Welcome Axenic.... Axe for short?
MC5LE..... is a limited versioin of MC5 which is also a "smaller" program than say...Sonar X1.
However, it will work properly IF.... you have the right tools and set it up properly.
What exactly is the USB to 1/4 inch jack thing?
Many of the USB cord style interfaces are not really suitable for full scale recording and play back because they still rely on the computer soundcard for sound.
Ideally, you want something like a M-Audio USB interface (or similar) to do what you want done. It is a dedicated sound card, and it will show up in the audio & midi options to select inputs and outputs.
It is really important that you DO NOT select the factory sound card in a computer....especially in a laptop, since they are not designed to do the full duplex recording that MC5 is capable of. There is nothing wrong with 5LE, it is simply that the hardware can not do the job...hence, you have, as you say Gnarly delay or latency in the playback and in sync recording mode.
A dedicated sound interface will solve that.
I used MC4 for over 3 years on a stock Dell lappy running the Vista OS, but I was using an external interface.
My website & music:
www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW
Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface
BMI/NSAI
"Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "