Stromkraft - thanks for your kind input!
My problem was with recording usb mic audio, not controlling/recording external MIDI gears (so far).
To investigate, I opened empty project and noticed little latency for audio recording.
Then opened up current project with lots of audio clips.. .turned off all plugs (including Max for Live) & still got icky latency at 128 samples - argh. Turned on Reduced Latency When Monitoring - nope.
Then I remembered to turn off Delay Compensation (which includes turning off Reduced Latency when Monitoring) and voila! Latency got properly itsy-bitsy at 128 samples.
keyman_sam - hope you were able to get this sorted out!
Still need to play with 'sample' and Live's Options to understand what works best for specific setup and for when I finally get back to recording Blofeld and Phatty takes.
Cheers!