Thanks for that input. I was easily able to find the M Audio icon right in my tray (the lower right corner of my screen.) I opened it and found that the first screen had the buffer controls. I turned up the buffers from 256 to  512.
The bad news is that this didn't seem to make any significant difference. SHould I go to  1024? SHould I just get a new audio card. Perhaps I'll look for an M Audio forum.
Thanks
LNOvik

I would also try posting on the more active X series forum and even Gearslutz. Your issue is most probably the old Delta card. I seem to remember reading a few threads about the cards failing eventually.