jeremykolonay, it looks like you're right - the updated version of Universal Control seems to be causing the distortion.
I'm using Studio 68 with Win10, Core I7 and 32GB ram. After trying many approaches to getting rid of that distortion/sizzle on the virtual loopback function, I was ready to return the unit. Thankfully, I found this post.
Per your comments, as a last resort, I uninstalled Universal Control 2.5.1 and installed 2.4, The recorded audio was crystal clear!
Thanks for taking the time to contribute your insight - much appreciated.