Latency Problems: Edirol FA 101

[Supekutoru]

Hi wondering if anyone can help me out. Im using the Edirol FA 101 soundcard and running a few bits of hardware through it. But I'm having serious latency problems. If I want to play my hardware drum machine with, say, an arpeggiated rhythm from a Vst on ableton, they will be completely out of sync. The only way to get them to play in time is to put the buffer right down which then makes the soundcard crackle. I changed the "Prioritise Background Settings" but didn't make any difference. Surely the soundcard should be able to handle something as simple as this? Could it be Live? I actually cant work at all with this problem. Hope that I dont have to buy a new soundcard

Please help! Cheers