Out of sync between digital display and actual music

Have just bought AA CS5.5 when Cool Edit PRO became unusable on my new Windows 7 32 bit machine.

Use the program to edit music for dance performances.

Problem is there appears to be a 30% time lag between the actual music playing and the digital timing display.

Also when I start a track half way through a waveform, the music begins at the right position but the timing and scrolling bar quickly become out of sync again.

Is this "audio latency"?...a soundcard issue?

Any advice on how to fix will be appreciated.

CS5 is quite a bit more complex and demanding on a system than Cool Edit Pro.  Therefore it is a good idea to stop programs running in the background on your computer so that they do not take up valuable resources, especially if you are working with video.  Also make sure your video cards and drivers are up to date and compatible with your new Operating System. 
I do not have CS5 but I do have Windows 7.  I know that, graphically, Win7 is more resource hungry due to the Aero stuff that makes your windows pretty and the windows borders see through.  You should try turning off that stuff. 
Go to Control Panel>Performance Information and Tools and in the left column click Adjust Visual Effects. 
A window will pop up called Performance Options and should be open to Visual Effects. 
Choose Adjust for Best Performance.  Click Apply, then Okay.
That will turn off the Aero visual stuff on your Win7 computer, thus freeing up RAM and CPU resources for your editing.

Possibly a sample rate issue. If Audition thinks it is running at one rate while the audio interface thinks it is running at another then you'll get this problem. Is the pitch correct?

James.

Problem is there appears to be a 30% time lag between the actual music playing and the digital timing display.

Also when I start a track half way through a waveform, the music begins at the right position but the timing and scrolling bar quickly become out of sync again.

Does this happen all the time or only once the display starts to scroll?

Is the 'Centered auto scrolling in multitrack' option on or off?
Does it happen when it is set to off?

Many thanks for your suggestions....

Have turned off the Aero visual
Pitch appears correct
Centered auto scrolling in multitrack option have been run both on and off - (delay occurs all the time)

...But the out of sync is still occurring and so making it impossible to edit music.

From further forum reading, am considering upgrading soundcard to one able to manage lower latency.  At the moment can only reduce to 30ms.

Any advice as to whether or not this may assist (and possible preferred soundcard) would be appreciated...

It might help if you told us what soundcard you were using.

James.

Have a Realtek High Definition Audio onboard card...

Thanks

Three points.

1. A decent card will be much better than the Realtek, and will provide asio drivers for lower latency.

2. I could edit here on a laptop running Win 7 with onboard Realtek, so there must be something else wrong.

3. Why did Cool Edit Pro not work on the Win 7 machine? I can run these old versions here and haven't hit any major problems. Again, this points to something with the machine.

You were right to turn Aero off.

The other issue affecting sync is the display driver!  Is that one up to date?

CS5 is quite a bit more complex and demanding on a system than Cool Edit Pro.  

I have not found that to be true at all.  And, Windows 7 uses RAM much more efficiently.  Anyone with at least a duo core processor and adequate RAM should have no problem using CS%, or AA4 with W7.

CS5 is quite a bit more complex and demanding on a system than Cool Edit Pro.  

I have not found that to be true at all.  And, Windows 7 uses RAM much more efficiently.  Anyone with at least a duo core processor and adequate RAM should have no problem using CS%, or AA4 with W7.

So you've found that you would be able to run CS5 on a 12 year-old computer and have it use about the same amount of resources as Cool Edit Pro?  Do tell.
I could see your point if you meant that CS5 is not very resource-hungry on new machines.