This is actually an ongoing issue. There was a prior thread on this forum, but that discussion has been closed.
It appears that the S88 Mk3 is working fine and the issue is from the Studio Mac USB-C port (chip). I have opened a support case with Apple, but the response I received was, 'This is not something they have received any complaints about. . .' And they went on to close the case.
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This is the following I received from Native Instruments:
thanks for the information you have provided.
Mac Studios have an issue with their USB C implementation unfortunately. This is affecting a lot of manufacturers like ourselves.
This issue causes the communication in the protocol to essentially break, thus data is dropped.
This manifests as various symptoms, depending on the peripheral. For Kontrol S MK3, the dropped data can cause the freezes you are experiencing.
The issue can appear at random, frequently or infrequently.
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Apparently a powered hub can solve the issue. But it was recommended to me by the Apple Support person to encourage other Mac Studio users to open a support case with Apple. They might start to listen to multiple complaints.
I am also encouraging Native Instruments to directly contact Apple!