I have the same problem but unfortunately don't have a solution to suggest. I'm using a Focusrite 18i8. The latency when recording MIDI with VSTs is so bad that it's just about impossible to record, even after adjusting the buffers and all that. Like the original poster, I tried recording on another popular DAW and had no noticeable latency. So I'm in the camp that suspects some kind of Cakewalk-Focusrite incompatibility.
 
A few years ago, the audio driver for Focusrite was causing SPLAT to crash every 10 minutes. Beta driver fixed that. It does seem to be an ongoing struggle to get that hardware to work with this software.
 
 

FWIW i have an 18i20 second generation, the latest drivers from Focusrite work perfectly, W10 and the lastest Splat/CbB.

I also run it on usb2.

Jerry

jwadley
I have the same problem but unfortunately don't have a solution to suggest. I'm using a Focusrite 18i8. The latency when recording MIDI with VSTs is so bad that it's just about impossible to record, even after adjusting the buffers and all that. Like the original poster, I tried recording on another popular DAW and had no noticeable latency. So I'm in the camp that suspects some kind of Cakewalk-Focusrite incompatibility.
 
A few years ago, the audio driver for Focusrite was causing SPLAT to crash every 10 minutes. Beta driver fixed that. It does seem to be an ongoing struggle to get that hardware to work with this software.
 
 

I'm using a Focusrite Audio interface (2i4 gen1) and it's fine with Cakewalk. Maybe you should stay with what worked for you, be that different hardware or a different DAW. 
The only issues I've had with my Focusrite 2i4 in the past were unrelated to DAWs.
This Focusrite product compatibility with Windows 10 'Fall Creators Update' support page at Focusrite.com focuses on the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. Soon, we will have the Windows 10 Spring (April or May) update, so you might try a clean Windows 10 install of that - to reduce the possibility of issues. I like Windows very much, but I must admit that so many updates can be annoying. Again, they all seem unrelated to DAWs though for me. Welcome to the forum. I hope you can enjoy Cakewalk by BandLab (or the online version of BandLab).
 
As Jerry reminds us above, try USB 2.0. I use a 5 or 6 year old motherboard (Z77X-UP7) and connect the 2i4 directly to the USB 2.0. (MY 2i4 is a USB 2.0 device.) After so many years, this seems illogical at first, but Windows 10 changed something or had compatibility issues with the focusrite driver after the Anniversary or Creators Update, so I and a few other people needed to switch to USB 2.0 from USB 3.0 to eliminate audio dropouts in Windows in general. This was unrelated to DAWs. I was a little disappointed that I picked up a gen 1 2i4 only to find that the company was selling gen 2 (which have lower latency in general). I'm curious if they offer a discount for part-exchanging the old for the new.
 
Anyway, I would cleanly reinstall Windows now or after the next Spring (April or May) update and try everything cleanly with a fresh Windows install. Like I said, my gen 1 Focusrite 2i4 is working fine in Windows and with Cakewalk.
Any issues above were unrelated to DAWs.

I have a Gen 2 Focusrite 18i8 and have the same problem.  I think it is plugged into a USB3.  I'll try the USB2 idea.  It's weird enough that it just might work.  (BTW: No latency issues at all in ANY other DAW...sorry...it's pretty much looking like Cakewalk / Sonar is the culprit). 

I found out all of my latency problems were because I was using a lot of plugins, and I did not regularly freeze my tracks. I now freeze all tracks and shut off all (or most) processing effects, especially mastering effects and the latency returns to an acceptable amount of delay. Took me years to figure that out... lol

Nobody has been clear about this but the above post say's what I'm a thinking too.
 
I have Nooo problem if I bypass all effects while tracking. But the minute I use one of those "look ahead" type guys I'm hooped. 
So as a matter of habit I stay away from loading up on plug ins until I get to the mixing stage. 
Oh and I have a Scarlett 6i6 1st gen and use it on W7 and W10 no problem. 
 
The Focusrite stuff are not the best RTL performers anyhow. so keep that input echo off and use the direct monitoring. 

joakes
FWIW i have an 18i20 second generation, the latest drivers from Focusrite work perfectly, W10 and the lastest Splat/CbB.

I also run it on usb2.

Jerry

Me too!

sock monkey
Nobody has been clear about this but the above post say's what I'm a thinking too.
 
I have Nooo problem if I bypass all effects while tracking. But the minute I use one of those "look ahead" type guys I'm hooped. 
So as a matter of habit I stay away from loading up on plug ins until I get to the mixing stage. 
Oh and I have a Scarlett 6i6 1st gen and use it on W7 and W10 no problem. 
 
The Focusrite stuff are not the best RTL performers anyhow. so keep that input echo off and use the direct monitoring. 

 
I often use a lot of soft synths, and do exactly this - bypass all effects. But I have the old Saffire 6 USB that is on the bottom of the list here:
http://www.dawbench.com/audio-int-lowlatency3.htm
 
The newer Scarletts isn't listed, but probably up higher in the list. I get it to work with my Saffire 6 USB, though making big orchestral works could be easier with an interface getting lower latency when dealing with soft synths/plugins.

sock monkey
Nobody has been clear about this but the above post say's what I'm a thinking too.
 
I have Nooo problem if I bypass all effects while tracking. But the minute I use one of those "look ahead" type guys I'm hooped. 
So as a matter of habit I stay away from loading up on plug ins until I get to the mixing stage. 
Oh and I have a Scarlett 6i6 1st gen and use it on W7 and W10 no problem. 
 
The Focusrite stuff are not the best RTL performers anyhow. so keep that input echo off and use the direct monitoring. 

You'll never be able to track whilst using look-ahead type effects - they're designed primarily for mixing/mastering and are not meant to be used whilst tracking.
 
Some may have the option to disable the look-ahead part - otherwise, like Leizer says, disable the effects.
 

Usb2 and the beta driver work fine for me. 6i6 2g.