Finally got things to work. Had several emails with Arturia Support and I ended up needing to completely uninstall all-things-Arturia from my MBP's system (apps, caches, plists, etc) and install everything afresh. Things are now behaving normally again but I'm not sure what caused the problems to begin with.
It is what it is. I'm just glad things are working now and that my KeyLab 88 MkII Black is able to control the standalone apps and plugins. Also the Arturia Support folks were great at assisting and very helpful. Good to see that!
Thanks for trying to help out!