UR12 driver update busted audio... I reverted, but now in Catch-22?

Hope this is okay here. WIN 10, UR12, Cubase 11 Pro

I was having a weird issue of 22-second lag with MIDI keyboard input in Dorico. Updated the UR12 driver and it completely busted all my audio - playback issues across apps and Zoom started randomly switching the audio input prefs ( I manage all my audio through the UR12 as a rule). I used Restore to revert to an earlier state and it solved all problems instantly.

Now I try to create a new project in Cubase; using a bass guitar I’m getting digital distortion and a sort of delay/echo effect. I’ll try to attach the audio file here

Contacted support. They said my processor isn’t ‘properly’ supported by MSFT ( Core i7-2600K @ 3.40GHZ 4 core). Their advice was to update the driver. I’m in the middle of a big engraving job in Dorico and I can’t risk busting everything again, plus I need Zoom working for collab with clients. The driver update was 2.1.1

Cubase was working fine for months until I tried to update the UR12 driver. The thing is - I didn’t do a Windows Update after the last known instance of Cubase working. Support says ‘Try Windows Audio Optimization and Graphics card update and hope it solves the issue’. They also asked me to try ‘Override mode for driver operation’. Again I just can’t risk busting the system at this time. Is that something I can unwind easily?

Any comments at all are appreciated.

Bumping this one time… anyone?