Note: Your sound card should function INDEPENDENTLY of any software that needs to use it.

When I turn my DAW computer on and just let it boot up on it's own before I ever load any recording or music software... at some point in that boot up process, the sound card starts to pass AUDIO automatically. It doesn't automatically pass midi because midi needs a synth for output.

Looking into the in/out settings in your software, you should be able to see ALL of the available inputs and outputs that the computer sees as available.

If the computer sees it, it's available. Then it's just a matter of assigning a synth to read that data and provide the audio output back to the sound card.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.