infamis wrote:

Now I'm realizing using two different cards introduces latency. I'll record
fine. But when playback, it's as if the recorded track "speeds" up, so to say.
I guess I'll just go back to recording & playing with a single SoundBlaster.

You'll get some latency whether using one card or two.
It's always better to monitor your recording input via
hardware before the A/D so the only latency you actually
hear when recording is the playback side which can be
compensated for after the overdub track is laid.

My soundcard choices a
1. Onboard Realtek AC97 (recording inputs)
2. Soundblaster SBLive! (recording inputs)
3. Chaintech AV710 (no recording inputs, put best playback quality)

All the AC97 onboard chips I've listened to have truly
poor performance on the recording inputs. Noisey,
bad balance between L and R, raggedy response,
and that's just the line inputs. 16 bit only and I think
they resample everything to and from 48k (as part of
the AC97 spec).

I'd suggets using the SBLive inputs as a better option.
There might even be some way to monitor it's input (?)

rd