Can't hear playback on Reaper unless I switch to Direct Sound

[corgibutt]

Hi guys!

Totally new to recording here.
I love singing so I recently bought below setup:
Focusrite Scarlett Solo audio interface + XLR to XLR cable + AKG D5 supercardiod mic + Reaper(free trial).

So far I am not satisfied with the setup I got. My issues are:

1. In Reaper, I have to set the "Audio system" to "ASIO" for me to get any sound bar moving from the mic. When I play back, nothing comes out unless I actively go and switch to "Direct Sound".
That's such an annoyance because I have to switch back and forth just to hear what the hell I recorded and then back.
Also, I can't hear any live playback when I am recording, so when I'm singing, I can't hear myself.

2. There is a direct monitoring port on my audio interface, but the volume is too low.
I have to turn the mic gain to the MAX & the monitoring volume to the MAX for me to hear a loud enough sound for me to just hear.
Of course the quality isn't good because the gain is turned up, and it's a problem obviously I don't wanna have paid $170 CAD just so I can barely hear myself sing with noises.
This doesn't seem right to me. I'm not using the phantom power as the mic doesn't require it, and switching it on doesn't solve the problem(no sound I believe).
(At least the volume when I play back on Reaper seems perfectly fine. The kind of "normal" expected level of volume I expect. But this direct monitoring feature of AI shouldn't be this low I don't think...)

There's still a lot for me to understand before I can make happen the kinda setup I want.
Any help would be much appreciated!!

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UPDATE #1
Silly me, I did some more research and learned sound is taken over by Scarlett when I'm using ASIO with it and that sound comes in through mic -> Scarlett -> PC AND it also goes back out through Scarlett.
So I can turn on monitoring in Reaper, listen to it through the headphone out on Scarlett. I'll do more research when I'm back from work!

 

[gecko zzed]

I think the main problem is caused by how you are listening to stuff.

Where are your speakers or headphones connected? I think they are connected to the computer's sound (seeing as you are switching to direct sound).

The scarlett takes the place of your computer's sound card, so mikes go into it, and headphones and speakers come out of it.

You need to tell Reaper to receive and send to the scarlett (which is what you do when you set set system to ASIO). You also need to tell your computer to send its audio to the scarlett through its control panel.

That is the first thing to do.

You don't need phantom for the D5.

Make sure direct monitoring is switched to 'on'.

 

[corgibutt]

Thanks very much for the quick reply. I started googling more after posting, and learned when I'm using Scarlett Solo's ASIO, it takes over the audio from the computer entirely! So I enabled monitoring in Reaper, and it makes a little more sense that sound comes in through Scarlett, also goes out to Scarlett through the monitoring port(not through computer's sound)! Now I think listening to myself is solved, I should experiment with playing instrumental music and singing along with it while hearing myself sing after I get back from work. Thanks!