Oh boy, beginner's issues...sorry!!

First I'd like to extend a nice warm hello to you all! My name is Jason and I've just begun my journey into the digital audio world. I'm a songwriter/composer and would like to begin using reaper to translate my work to the digital audio realm. I've been digesting as much info for the last few days and am consumed by complications (I guess one must earn there passage in this field) First things first: I'm running a 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM (audio core) *Am soon to upgrade to Presonus Firebox soon, hopefully :)* Oh yea, MAC OS 10.5.5 All I am trying to do (which has been a basic procedure in Reason and garageband) is connect my M audio axiom 61 to use with reaper. With the settings I have, I am getting a red square indicating that midi is being sent although I am not hearing any sound. I only hear sound when I use the virtual keyboard. In *Audio Preferences* I have built in input and built in ouput selected respectively to Input and Output device. For MIDI Devices Preferences I have enabled PORT 1 and PORT 2 for MIDI INPUTS *I have also toyed with MIDI OUTPUT but currently have it disabled. PORT 1 however, is an option for enabling. I then configure the track to record midi by selecting midi input >>>all midi inputs>>All channels while also selecting Monitor Input and Record: Input (This is all done by clicking IN button) I have not configured any additional routing. When I click the IO button I have additional options although there are none available. For instance, Midi Hardware Outputs there is "No output" selected and there are no other options. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a question many of you had to answer in the past and I apologize for any redundancy (i did search for this but found nothing of relevance) If anyone is willing to take a stab at my problem I would be delighted and much thankful! Cheers to you all! Jason

well my goodness.... enable Port 1 from Output device, then route it to Port 1 and yes! So Simple!

well....no...this makes no sense Now I can open reaper and play notes on my midi keyboard and sound comes through. No arming of tracks or anything. I don't have control over reasynth parameters. Odd...(from my view)