A few days on and I’m still not properly up and running. My attempts to use USB for the MOTU was, as I mentioned, not terrifically successful, with the Mac and various DAWs seemingly only occasionally able to connect to the interface. A Presonus 1824c was only marginally better, often emitting rather annoying white noise out of its main outputs on start up until the internal clock was switched and then switched back using the supplied control software. Today I will pull a Focusrite Solo I use with my “art” computer and try that one. If it works, I might order an 18i20 to act as a temporary solution.
At this point, I am quite frustrated and seriously considering sending the M1 back to Apple and getting another Intel. Too bad, because the M1 is a really fast computer, but it (or the interface manufacturers) don’t seem to have all of the wrinkles ironed out.