Bootable backup for Mac Studio music setup?

Carbon Copy Cloner can make bootable clone backups. I used it for many years to back up an Intel-based Mac, running High Sierra or earlier, in just that fashion.

Unfortunately, the security changes that Apple has introduced in the last few years have made keeping bootable clone backups much dicier than it used to be.

On the system requirements page for CCC v7, Bombich writes:

• "While CCC can produce bootable copies of macOS via the Legacy Bootable Copy Assistant, this functionality is not recommended nor supported as part of a backup strategy. In general, Apple designs macOS to be installed, not restored nor copied."

That is, you can still do it (for now), but given the changes Apple has made, the CCC developers aren't sure that it's a good idea to count on being able to do it in the future.

The things that Bombich mentions would presumably also affect SuperDuper! – the other "go to" clone backup tool.

Another potential issue is that some applications may have DRM (a.k.a. artificial incompatibility) that keeps cloned backups from working properly.

As already noted you can use CCC to start the cloning process but you cannot use the built in bootable clone software with M series Macs. I have tried and usually a crash occurs. I do this and it works:

• Use CCC to clone all my data to external drive
• Boot into recovery and install the OS on the external CCC drive

This will make that drive bootable and is a clone of your internal drive.

A couple of links that may be useful:

How to use an external storage device as a Mac startup disk - Apple Support

The Eclectic Light Company – M-series Macs

On the Eclectic Light Company site, there's a link to an article "Should you make an emergency disk for an Apple silicon Mac?", and way down the page, there's a whole section of links to articles about "External boot disks."

If you are planning to make a startup disk on one Apple Silicon Mac, and transfer it to another, I believe that there might be some extra security steps you have to go through to get the second Mac to accept it. Between Apple's Support article and the more detailed articles on the other site, those are probably covered somewhere.

Although you can certainly use Time Machine for backups, those backups are not bootable. To restore one, you first need a working installation of macOS.

Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support

"If you made a Time Machine backup of your Mac, Migration Assistant can use that backup to restore all of your personal files, including your apps and everything in your user account."

"If you need to reinstall macOS, do that before continuing. For example, if your Mac starts up to a flashing question mark, you need to first reinstall macOS."

Ask the various vendors of the apps involved how to do this with their “special” apps.

macOS itself and apps tied to an Apple Account can be transferred using little more than a Time Machine restore.