I have an existing home setup and I'm beginning to reach the limit of my hardware. I have a powerful Windows 10 laptop (i7 processor) which I use to run my DAW. I use Sonar X2 from Cakewalk. I have a MIDI keyboard which interfaces via USB (Oxygen-61 from M-Audio) and a USB microphone (CAD u37).
I've run into issues with latency where the recorded analog audio (and sometimes even the MIDI input) doesn't match up with the metronome or existing tracks. I've tried quite a bit to tweak the settings but haven't gotten past that.
I think my problem might be with the hardware itself, namely my audio card. I have the built-in Realtek High Definition Audio card, so I thought I might be able to get something better to supplant it. I looked at some USB Audio Interfaces but quickly realized I didn't know what I was looking for. Most of my devices are USB so I don't really know if an audio interface is what I need.
So can you advise me? Is there a device out there that can take the inputs I have any get them to work better with my computer? Am I totally barking up the wrong tree thinking my sound card is to blame?