I have just had this same problem. I booted up on Safe Mode and can get sound working and Sound Preferences appears fine. However, when I switch back to normal mode, it goes back to sound not aorking and Sound Preferences hangs freezes causing me to Force Quit. See attached.
I too had CleanMy Mac installed. Should I remove that App?
I reinstalled Monterey and the problem persists.
What is the best solution to this?
I managed to get it working again by using iboysoft.com workout found here: https://iboysoft.com/howto/system-preferences-not-responding.html
I'm posting it here to help anyone else who encountered same problems. This worked for me:
Once I restarted my machine Sound Preferences pane showed up fine and YouTube, Cubase all worked as normal.
Yes. I did think about that also.
Problem is, what happens once I've installed all apps/plugins to use. How would I move all that back to my main internal SSD Drive?
Ok - that seems like a good plan. I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet on this one.
Thank you very much for your help and quick response! It has been much appreciated.
Sound Preferences pane freezes hangs and Erroe appears
