Opinion on Audio/Midi Interfaces

a MIDI USB cable will not solve latency problems.  there is only 2 things that will affect latency, the CPU speed and the soundcard and its drivers.

check my website for soundcard recommendations.

hey Beagle,

Thanks for your reply... So you think those USB based interfaces are not good? You suggest a straight up Sound Card?

But what about for Midi? would this still apply for Midi latency?

Beagle has lots of USB audio interfaces on his list.
What you call "MIDI latency" is actually audio latency, since you're using software synthesizers. They take the MIDI data and render it into an audio signal. MIDI interfaces are merely connectors: a USB-to-MIDI converter justs converts the standard MIDI cable connections to a USB connector (plus maybe some electronic stuff inside it, to convert the standard MIDI messages to something transmittable via USB). If your MIDI controller already has a USB port, you don't need a USB-to-MIDI converter. Just plug it in to any unused USB port on the computer.
Audio interface and sound card are used interchangably, but aren't exactly the same thing.
Sound cards make sound; audio interfaces also make sound, but are much more efficient at it, and better able to handle audio data going both ways (recording and playback at the same time) than sound cards.
When using software synthesizers, the audio interface is better at utilizing available resources (CPU power, memory) than a simple sound card, that's the "efficiency" aspect. Since your MIDI controller makes no sounds of it's own, you have to use soft synths to hear the MIDI data being played. The more synths and effects you add, the more that audio data gets bottled up in the sound card due to it's inefficiency. Eventually, it will be like rush hour on the LBJ freeway; everything stops.
The audio interface has many more lanes than the sound card, so the traffic doesn't get bogged down as easily.
If you can't reduce the latency to a decent level with the latency slider, and turning off all your other programs that might be using the processor's power, and maybe by adjusting the I/O Buffers or Buffers In Playback Queue in MC, Options>Audio, or by changing to a different Driver Mode, then you may as well accept that an audio interface will be necessary.
See if that Turtle Beach sound card is still supported and if it has updated drivers. Probably not, since it's so old, but you can check anyway.
 
 

greg set you right there, I believe.  no I don't think usb cards are bad (I have one myself now).  it's that the UA-2G is NOT a soundcard, it's just a MIDI/USB cable.  you need a soundcard to resolve latency issues.