Hi, I have a yamaha ypg-635 that I hooked up to my computer through usb, but its getting a delay in Sonar X2. I am using my on-board generic sound card which does not support asio drivers, so I am using MME drivers. I have tried messing with the latency settings but, it's just not good enough. I read through some posts and found out I need a better sound card. I have my eyes set on one of these.
 
PreSonus AudioBox USB: 
 
Creative Soundblaster Z: 
 
Which one would be better for me?
 
I just want to use my keyboard without latency. Since my keyboard is a usb anyways I won't be using any the analog interface on the other card.  Is the sound blaster higher quality and faster? 
 
Thanks!
 

What is going to produce the sound? I mean are you going to use Sonar as pure MIDI sequencer, so all sounds are produced by ypg or you want use ypg as a MIDI controller to play VSTi ?
 
In any case Soundblaster is normally not the way to go.
Focusrite (2i2 or better), Tascam (2x2 or better), PreSonus, etc. was thought for music. Soundblasters was developed for gaming.
 
But you can try ASIO4ALL (easy to find in Google). Set Sonar into ASIO mode, set ASIO4ALL to 256 and start lowering this setting till you get some problems. With luck you can go down to 128 and that can be acceptable for you.
 
If you have powerful computer and after optimization/solving latency problems, you can get 64 with dedicated audio interface. But "default" will be around 128. So the primary difference is the sound quality.
 
With Creative own ASIO drivers you can get the same (lower) latency. But the quality is close to what you already have. Well, on cheap PC speakers or cheap headphones that is not really important/noticeable.

azslow3
What is going to produce the sound? I mean are you going to use Sonar as pure MIDI sequencer, so all sounds are produced by ypg or you want use ypg as a MIDI controller to play VSTi ?
 
In any case Soundblaster is normally not the way to go.
Focusrite (2i2 or better), Tascam (2x2 or better), PreSonus, etc. was thought for music. Soundblasters was developed for gaming.
 
But you can try ASIO4ALL (easy to find in Google). Set Sonar into ASIO mode, set ASIO4ALL to 256 and start lowering this setting till you get some problems. With luck you can go down to 128 and that can be acceptable for you.
 
If you have powerful computer and after optimization/solving latency problems, you can get 64 with dedicated audio interface. But "default" will be around 128. So the primary difference is the sound quality.
 
With Creative own ASIO drivers you can get the same (lower) latency. But the quality is close to what you already have. Well, on cheap PC speakers or cheap headphones that is not really important/noticeable.

Thanks for the quick response! I am planning to use the ypg as a midi controller to play VSTi. I'll try the ASIO4ALL drivers first. If they don't work I will probably go with the Presonus. I'm actually open to any other suggestions too, my budget is just around $100 and those were the two cards that was recommended to me. 
 
My main concern is just the latency, and then input/output quality I suppose.
 
If i go with the presonus or any other similar quality audio interface will it solve the latency issues with my usb midi keyboard? 

Hi, and welcome to this forum.
I would definitely go for the Presonus. Be sure to get the latest ASIO drivers for it.
When recording, make sure to bypass any fx that causes latency. Then set as low latency as possible without getting cracks and pops under Preferences in SONAR (P), Audio, Driver Settings.
Hope it helps.
All the best.

serulin
If i go with the presonus or any other similar quality audio interface will it solve the latency issues with my usb midi keyboard?

That is your computer dependent. Test ASIO4ALL in build-in audio first. In case the setting 256 still produce some problems with your setup, I recommend to solve that first (you can get some help here). Other interfaces should perform better, but only in case there is no "show stopper" in your system.
 
You have not specified the computer you use. And  I guess you do not know jet what is the limit for latency after which you feel the delay. That is personal, for example I can play piano with 192, with 128 I do not feel much difference to the hardware produced sounds. But there are people which will refuse to play with latency more than 64 and even then with top hardware only (which has no additional internal buffering). For example, I can not play e-drums at all over 128, on 128 that is only half possible.
 
Minimal latency difference between good interfaces (RME,MoTU)  and worse interfaces ("class complaint" USB devices, note that your build-in sound is better in that respect) is significant. But in range of $100 - $500 all comparison charts show close to the same values: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/8489999-post384.html
MIDI communications are rather slow, but there is no "audio input -> DAW" part of latency in MIDI -> VSTi schema.