I just installed Dorico 2. I have Steinberg CI2 USB studio and a very old soundcard called Sound blaster Audigy 2ZS. According to specs Dorico needs a sound card called UR22mkII. Is CI2 a soundcard at all? Does it work with Dorico 2? Right now I hear my midis from a general speaker of my computer but how can I use my CI2 to listen my midis? Or do I need to buy UR22mkII? It seems that Sound blaster Audigy 2ZS doesn’t work with Dorico. Also, my friend would sell me UR22mkI. Does this work with Dorico 2? Thanks for your answers!
You can use the CI2, no problem.
You could probably even use the Audigy card, so long as you install an ASIO audio driver. Dorico comes with a “generic low latency ASIO driver” from Steinberg, but I’ve found the free ASIO4ALL driver from http://www.asio4all.org/ works better on some “ancient” Windows systems.
(Don’t waste your time trying to find a Creative Labs ASIO driver, though they do have something that claims to be one!)
Here a little more complete answer. Yes, your CI2 is also sound card, just an external one. Provided you have the CI2 driver installed, it can easily be used in Dorico. Choose from the main menu Edit > Device Setup and for the ASIO driver choose “Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO”. That’s it, Dorico will then play out via your CI2.
On a different note. You can’t listen to MIDI files directly, because they only contain control information. You need some engine to generate real audio data of it. Windows has a crappy built-in synthesizer which then plays out via the sound card. But you can also import MIDI files into Dorico and then play it out via Dorico’s audio engine.