Midi not working properly on M1 MacBook Pro

I have a 16GB MBP M1 as well. I bought it less than a week ago.

There seems to be an M1 chip issue (not Big Sur) that's been reported many times on various support boards. The "stock" answer by Apple is to either use bluetooth midi or to try to get it running via audio/midi setup via a cable. I've heard that bluetooth midi is working with the MBP/M1, but didn't want to buy a wireless midi keyboard to fix a problem that shouldn't exist. It's a shame that six months after product launch Apple still hasn't fixed the very well documented midi issues with the new M1 chip.

Here is a solution: iConnectivity mioXC. It's a simple midi cable with a USB C (and USB A converter) on one end and a pair of DIN midi connections on the other. Perhaps the USB output on the keyboard is confusing the MBP and it can't sort audio from midi data - I'm not an engineer, so can't say for sure. When you use the DIN (round) midi connector, it's midi only - no audio.

Neither my M-Audio Ozone, nor my Yamaha MOX8 were working with my M1 laptop and I tried going deep into the audio/midi setup, and used a midi monitoring program called snoize. I saw on another board that someone had tried this simple midi cable and it worked, so I took the chance (it's about $50).

My Apogee Duet works for audio, but the USB midi - nada. So I plug my Ozone midi controller into the mioXC and it even works through a hub using the USB C to USB A adapter. No muss, no fuss and I'm operational.

I can't imagine if the guys with big midi rigs requiring multiple midi ports will ever be running on this chip, but if you just have a single or 2 midi input devices, this could work for you.

Good luck!