Time delay when Im playing audio instruments

Have you changed the buffer size, or latency settings anywhere?

In both MS and Logic, the Buffer settings are under Preferences.

Try to keep it as low as possible....32 is the lowest. 64 is what I use for live monitoring/performance.

Depending on your instrument, you will notice very slight latency at 64, but it is a compromise.

If you have a MOTU soundcard, you can monitor through the CueMix, and bypass the DAW all together.

Some soundcards allow you to do this, if it is possible, it really is the best approach, as you will have ZERO latency.

Also what comes into play is the speed of your computer.

With a G4 processor, I was never able to get the buffers lower than 128, which was still liveable for guitar, and unacceptible for piano.

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WHen you say he sold me a Mac "which has a very small soundcard"

it leads me to believe that you are confusing terms.

Every mac has sound "Built In".

Although you can do great things with the onboard sound, you have far more flexibility and power with an external unit. This will cost some coin, but if you are serious about making music, this is the only choice if you want to use a computer.

I would recommend MOTU soundcards because I have owned many of them in the last decade.

Pf course M-Audio makes decent stuff, and so does Apogee. Depends on how much you want to spend.

UNfortunately by using the Mac's Built In soundcard option, you are not going to be able to get around the latency problem, it's just the nature of the beast.