Some things to remember when working with Live/audio software in general (all simplified):
Latency: time between pressing a key and hearing the sound. the lower the latency, the better the "feeling".
Buffer Size: the lower the buffer size, the lower the latency but the higher the stress on the CPU .
the higher the buffer size, the higher the latency but the lower the stress on the CPU.
a "good" buffer size to start with is 128.
pianists or drummers might need a lower buffer size to feel comfortable.
Some audio interfaces like buffer size values that you can divide by 16, like 128, 156, 512 etc. an do not like "odd" buffer sizes like 403 or 130.
Sample Rate: the higher, the better the audio quality but the larger the recorded audio files.
CD quality is 44100. Lower than that is not recommended.
Higher sample rates are possible and recommended when you have a recent computer model (which should be able to handle the additional workload).
Higher sample rate = more hard disk activity (more data in same time to be processed).
The audible benefit of sample rates higher than 96000 is questionable (since you have a higher CPU load and you need more bandwidth for the audio stream).
Audio drivers: always use ASIO as driver type when working on windows. If your interface does not come with its own ASIO driver (like many built-in audio interfaces), download and use the universal ASIO driver from here:
http://asio4all.com/ (works with most interfaces, sometimes better than their own ASIO drivers.
Midi: use a high quality midi interface to avoid timing problems with midi clock to or from the computer/MPC.
MIDI/SYNC Tab in Live's preferences: for inputs:
Activate the "track" button when you want to receive notes and CCs from the respective input port (into Live). Example: control a synth in Live from a controller keyboard.
Activate the "sync" button when you want to receive midi clock or MTC from the respective input port (into Live). Example: sync Live as slave to the MPC as master.
Activate the "remote" button when you want to receive notes and CCs fro midi mapping from the respective input port (into Live). Example: use a fader on your midi controller to control a fader in Live.
for outputs:
Activate the "track" button when you want to send notes and CCs to the respective output port (from Live). Example: control your hardware synth from within Live.
Activate the "sync" button when you want to send midi clock to the respective output port (from Live). Example: sync MPC as slave to the Live as master.
Activate the "remote" button when you want to send status updates of mapped parameters to the respective output port (from Live). Example: when you use a motor fader device like BCR2000, the fader automatically moves when you adjust a fader in Live (which it is mapped to the hardware fader).
Controversial: Get a Mac.
