Hello,stuck in latency land...

Hello. I am at present pluging my guitar directly into the MICin on my laptop. I have the ASIO4 downloaded. There is very slight albeit noticeable latency especially using arpegios and single notes, Is there anywhere in Reaper I can tweak this just to bring everything into line.?? Or do I have to invest in a usb audio interface which in this current climate is not easy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You might be able to drop the latency in the ASIO4ALL control panel, otherwise youre going to need a device with its own ASIO driver.

ASIO4ALL is a great hack, but you are fighting a soundcard with 40cents worth of chips in it. Go bookmark and read through Tweak's Guide. He's got a great guide on audio interfaces that are known to work:

I'm sure someone has already brought this up in another thread somewhere, but here it is anyway... For those of you on a limited budget (like me) get on Craig's List and you'll find some incredible deals on perfectly good used equipment! :-) Replacing the onboard SC in your PC is paramount if you really start getting into this. To replace my original Digi (ruined during a move) I checked CL and found a used Digi001 interface/card for less than $100. The guy just couldn't stop upgrading his PT stuff. Lucky me! PT no longer supports the Digi001, but who cares? Later I picked up a Behringer Eurorack MX 2642A 16-channel mixer for $135. For less than some Creative crapola I've got a VERY workable DAW limited only by my CPU and imagination, limited as they are. ;-) Laptop OBSCs are another matter entirely and I use mine for my day job so they're a moot point with me. However, there is still a lot of good used *external* equipment out there for cheap, cheap, cheap. All ya gotta do is look, and make the call. And check out the equipment before buying. Currently I'm looking at good used rack-mounted Signal Conditioner, EQ. FX unit and a Compressor/Gate and/or Limiter, but I can't get to them fast enough. (Maybe a separate Forum for Used Equipment Wanted/For Sale is in order. I've noted more than a few people with the common complaint about their OBSC.)