Multitracking is what Vegas is all about. The ability to monitor tracks while recording is critical. Vegas provides this ability with most low-end sound cards and with nearly any multichannel card.

Recording and monitoring tracks is fairly fast and self-evident. Start by inserting a second audio track ( SHIFT+Q) and assigning its inputs as you did for the original mono track. If the second audio track is to be mono, set it up this way now. Track 1 will play back through whatever sound card is assigned. Track 2 will play back through the default assigned sound card as well. Depending on the sound card, this process can demonstrate latency during the recording process. This process is also where a professional sound card is invaluable. Professional sound cards use ASIO drivers, which dramatically reduce latency in the hardware/software relationship.

In a computer audio system, latency means any delay or wait time that increases real or perceived response time beyond the response time desired. More specifically, latency is the time between when sound is input to Vegas, processed, and returned to headphones or speakers. A contributor to computer latency includes mismatches in data speed between the CPU and I/O devices and slow buffers. Drivers and buffers can be set in Vegas to reduce latency. Small buffers reduce latency but increase the risk of dropouts. Larger buffers lessen the likelihood of dropouts but increase latency.

Vegas 5 has the ability to access ASIO drivers used by most professional...