I am confused by the whole latency thing. I have a midi track which I converted to audio onto another track when I play the track there is obviously a latency problem.
I've gone to audio preferences and tried increasing the offset with no apparent affect - I went up to 800ms - also tried the soft synth latency adjust the notes sound like they are playing together. tried raising the value but again no change. I am using coyote WT for the midi track. This is a windows 10 computer with a creative audigy 5 sound card. Any help would be appreciated.

First, latency is the round trip time it takes for a computer to process a command. Different tasks take different amounts of time. Running MIDI data through a MIDI sound module and recording the MIDI sound module audio output takes more time than just playing pre-recorded audio. That time difference is what you're hearing.

The latency setting in Band-in-a-Box adjusts the audio output of the MIDI sound module against the audio output of pre-recorded sound. The latency setting doesn't account for the time needed to record the MIDI sound module audio output.

The answer is to adjust the position of the recorded MIDI sound module audio output. Go to Audio > Edit Audio > Timeshift Audio (ms) ... My answer is wrong because it applies to Band-in-a-Box. I failed to realize this forum section is for PowerTracks Pro.

I left the top paragraph because I think it does address the what is latency question.

Any 'latency adjust' attempts will adjust the MIDI data.
Since you already converted the track to audio this will not work.

Insert space before it to move the track back
or
Cut/Paste it to the preferred location
or
highlight it and use CTRL + mouse to drag it where you want it.
or
Cut and 'Close Gap' to move it toward the beginning of the track

It has to be handled as audio once converted to audio.

What I am asking is why do the midi track and the audio track -which is an exact copy of the midi track starting at the exact same time, ( 1 : 1 : 0 ) not play together. I can't move the audio back because it is already at the beginning of the track. I assume it has something to do with the sound card latency.

Do they stay the same amount of time apart, or does one wander further and further from the other?

Panworks.
think of latency as the time tween action initiated and reaction of any system. eg LOL. wife says paint the bedroom NOW ! and the husband doesnt start for 3 hrs. so latency is 3 hrs.
if you dont have a low latency asio audio interface (recommended for song/daw work).
heres a list of pg users asio interfaces that work well.
https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=635707#Post635707
i would suggest you get a low latency asio interface.
from above list. sometimes what i do is test several/rent from a recording store.
one reason big studios buy custom built pc's with low latency interfaces already built in is , such systems are "turnkey".
(but they are over 2k often. for further research look at such sites as silentpc.com, purrfect audio, rok box, adk pro audio, scan.co.uk etc lots of info on those sites bout configs for daw work. plus also gearspace.com and reaper.fm where thousands of studios hang out from large to small. and lots of gear is reviewed and pc configs discussed.)

best
oldmuso

stays the same.

I am not recording audio -I have a good interface and have no trouble lining up recording with a midi track. What I am doing is right clicking on a midi track and choosing "convert to audio track" and put it on a separate track. then when I play the 2 tracks together there is a latency.