issue with connecting hardware synth

It sounds like you got the recording and playback working. But apparently the MIDI data your keyboard receives from Reaper will only play the default sound, the piano, unless it is told to play some other sound. You didn't mention what Yamaha keyboard you have, but somewhere in the manual should be a MIDI section that will tell you how you can change the sounds via MIDI if that is possible. Most probably Reaper has to be set to a specific MIDI channel and/or you might have to send a MIDI program change command from Reaper to your keyboard. Hard to say more at this stage without knowing more details about your setup.

thanks for the feedback, xpander. the model is psr-e313/ypt-310 :) yes there is a section about midi in user manual, but it doesn't say anything about sound/voice choice. there are 3 main points in manual's midi section. according to the manual, "these settings should be made when transmitting/receiving performance data to a connected midi device or computer: 1. local settings local settings determines whether or not notes played on the instrument are sounded by its internal tone generator system; the internal tone generator is active when local control is on, and inactive when its off". well, i really tried to set local control on and off, with no effect 2. external clock "these settings determine whether the instrument is synchronized to its own internal clock (off) or to a clock signal from an external device (on)" hmm, i didn't tampered with external clock settings yet :) 3. pc mode "the pc settings instantly reconfigure all important midi settings. the sellections are pc1, pc2 and off the chart of pc settings pc1 pc2 off local off off on external clock on off off song out off off on style out off off on keyboard out off on on i tried all these settings, pc1 pc2 and off, with no effect :(

oops, sorry about this messy "chart of pc settings", i intended to make it to look like a chart but it seems that settings here auto-align sentence lines..

Another question 

Thanks for this, I've got my bank/patch select working, but have another problem. When I open Reaper it sends a message to the sound module which returns it to patch 00. Fair enough, but I'd have expected clicking on a midi track would load the voice I've set up for that track. But it doesn't. I have to go into each track and reselect the voices each time. This cannot be right?! Surely when i select the track it should sent a message to select the right patch? Thanks