Hello there, first-time poster here.

I have a DAW computer with an M-Audio Delta 1010LT PCI card that I've been recording with.

I record acoustic guitar and vocals, with both doubled and panned hard left and right to get a full, warm sound.

The only way I can get perfect 0-latency recordings is if I do this:

-Record a guitar MASTER track that will later be scrapped
-Record the left-side guitar while playing back that master track
-Record the right-side guitar while playing back that master track
-Record the left-side vocals while playing back the master track
-Record the right-side vocals while playing back the master track
-Delete the master track

This is the only way I know of getting 4 separately recorded tracks to align perfectly. Obviously, it would be SOOO much easier and organic if I could just record a guitar track, then record a 2nd one along to that, and pan those hard left and right and record the vocals to them. But whenever I do this, I get latency. Nobody I've ever showed those recordings to can hear the latency, but I sure can.

My computer is dying and I need to build a new one.

My question is ---- could I get an 8-track digital recorder so that I could have 0 latency and just record tracks on top of each other instead of using a master track that every other track has to be recorded to for them to align PERFECTLY?

It doesn't matter what recording software I use, my 1010LT has latency when recording along to previous recordings. My computer is a beast, AMD 3ghz w/ 8GB of RAM and a massive video card. It is dedicated to recording, but all computer recording sucks for me as a solo artist due to having to record to a master track to avoid latency.

I'm building a new computer that will be even more beastly. Should I use a multi-track recorder to record and then import the tracks into that computer using the 1010LT for editing/mixing, or will the multi-track have the same latency issues as a DAW computer?

I realize that all digital involves some latency, but was under the impression that multi-track recorders have built in adjusters that might make it 0 or 1ms latency over the entire recording.

Thank you so much for any help or suggestions you may have!