you might have a latency problem. go to your audio settings and set your "Buffer Length" as minimal as possible. I recommend that you get ASIO4ALL, if you don't already have a soundcard with ASIO drivers.
also upgrade your soundcard in case its a weak one and upgrade your RAM to a minimum 1GB.then your softsynth plugin wuteva will run smoth like a soft wind in the summer.
Use the snap feature to get it quantized when you record. It should be in the top right corner. You can set it to whatever you want, none, 1/2 beat, 1/4 beat, etc.