Solved. Found it on another thread- “Inputs not working Cubase 11”
Steinberg changed the upgrade to ask whether or not to turn on the “Mic”,
I thought it was refering to the internal laptop mic.
I chose no thinking it would be stupid to ever use that cheap ass internal mic.
As it turns out, Mic should be on for our soundcards to even work.
Here’s the solution and a big Thanks to:
Martin.Jirsak
Hi,
Make sure Cubase has enabled Mic in the System Preferences, please.
Open macOS System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Microphone. Enable Cubase here.