MIDI lag with Groove Agent ONLY in custom template !!!

Hi, I don’t think I’m asking much from Groove Agent - play right away when I tap the MIDI controller.
For some reason it lags a half second. This seems to be a “new issue” that I just noticed today after I setup a custom template that I downloaded and tweaked. The lag is absent if I launch a FACTORY template.

Any ideas why this MIDI lag with Groove Agent might exist only in my custom template but not in the factory ones?