Play panel and transport control

I noticed that i/o preferences allows you to restart audio and midi devices without closing out. Nice feature.
But unfortunately, you can only operate the play panel if you have an audio out. I know that you can turn the volume down, but it forces you to use an available audio out. That is not a big deal. It just would be nice to send only midi out. Is there a way to incorporate "disable master sync" or something to that effect? I know that there is a command line for disabling the synthesizer but I am afraid that this won't help. Why does the transport have to be tied to the synth anyways? Thanks for any help here.