Muffled Audio Since Reinstalling Cubase 10/Windows 10

I am running Cubase 10 Pro on an ASUS laptop with Windows 10. I use a Behringer XR18 as my interface/mixer. I have been running this system for almost a year and never had any problems. About a month ago, I had some issues with my computer that required me to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Ever since then I have had problems.

For example, when I plug in my bass and listen to it live, the sound coming from my mixing monitors sounds great. Good, crisp, lively tone. But when I listen back to the recording in Cubase, it’s very dull. It sounds much more muffly overall, and the pick attack sounds mildly distorted. If I put a compressor on it, it sounds really bad.

I’ve swapped out the USB connection with several different cables. The analog input meters on the XR18 read around -6, and I have the USB sends set to Analog+Mute. I keep the gain settings on each channel so that the signal comes into Cubase at around -6 as well. So I really don’t understand what the problem is.

Looking back at the dates, I appears I had been running Cubase 10.0.30 and after the update, it’s 10.0.60. I don’t know what changes were made, but I need to figure this out ASAP.

I’m at my wits end here, and I’ve already had to cancel several recording sessions with clients, so this is a huge problem for me. If there’s anything anyone can think of, please let me know.