Everything new at once (including the newbie), a newbie's nightmare

Question

OK,
I should have someone local who can help me, but I don't. Hopefully this forum can!
I'm an old fashioned pen and staff paper composer upgrading to the 21st century because I've been asked to score a 30 minute documentary in May. So after weeks of research, Friday I bought:
-Yamaha S90 ES
-MOTU Ultralite I/O Interface
-KRK RP8 Monitors
-Logic Pro (using Express Trial until it gets here)
various mics, chords, etc.
Also, I'm using a Macbook Pro 2.16ghz - 2g dram for now.
I spent much of Friday and 16 hours yesterday getting to where I now have MIDI & Analog coming from the keyboard, through the MOTU to the computer, back out from the computer through the MOTU to the monitors as sound. (Built an Autoload template file per the Martin Sitter book - Logic Pro 7/Express).
The sound I'm getting this way is weak, probably 1/4 or less of that available when I plug the monitors directly into the keyboard. It's also coming through both the computer and the monitors (which distorts it). I've turned off the computer's sound via it's own preferences, but can't find out how to do it via the Express Trial version. I also have the "Volume" in my Autoload song template at 127.
So for now, two questions - how do I increase the sound level going to the monitors, and how do I get Logic Express to stop expressing sound through my Mac (without just turning off the Mac's sound via Mac preferences)?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Macbook Pro Core Duo 2 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 gig SDRAM 2.33 GHZ Core Duo 2

Answer 1

Actually, I figure that if you are on an Audio Instrument track, when you play on your S90, you're hearing the soft synth assigned to that track. You're recording midi data from your S90 in a Audio Instrument track and the soft synth from Logic plays it back. If you want to use the sounds of your S90 but keep working the same way, you'll need to use an Instrument track instead. You'll still record midi data on the track but instead of playing it back with a soft synth, you'll send the midi data back to your S90 via midi out. You can assign each midi channel a different track and you have to put your S90 in multi-timbral mode. To be able to hear the S90 in Logic, you'll also need to create an Audio Input track and select your MOTU's inputs related to your S90.