I'm sure Douglas will have deeper insight, but I believe the key is having a good ASIO driver to essentialy eliminate latency. I have a simple 2 channel Yamaha USB audio interface and don't have any latency isssues. The same holds true for my Zoom G5.

I've only dealt with 4 tracks at most (playing back 3 separate tracks while recroding a 4th). I use Adobe Audition as my recording software.