i recently found out you can add panning to this track control section, which is great cause i can keep an eye on the song’s stereo balance without having to open up the MixConsole. however, very small thing that’s driving me nuts…the controls are reversed on these. meaning, when i drag the panner to the right it brings the balance to the left. it’s small, but so irritating!
does anyone have a fix for this? or is it just a bug/unintentional design flaw?
Hi and welcome to the forum!
Please, check if your monitors are plugged in to the correct output (left/right). Same phenomenon on headphone output?
Does the panner on your Stereo Out or Control Room show the same reverse behaviour?
Also, please check your routing - any busses with panning involved? Any plugins along the way?
Hi and welcome to the forum,
It’s not just at this control. It’s the same in the Inspector, Channel, MixConsole. And it’s the same for the Audio, Group, FX, Input, Output Channels… But the MIDI Tracks work as expected.
Reported to Steinberg.
Hi,
Here, it’s not about swapping the channels. Really, the control in Cubase moves in the opposite direction.
Thanks for letting me know @Martin.Jirsak !.
TBH, I didn’t even bother to check because this is such a major bug - it didn’t cross my mind that this could have gone unnoticed. I don’t use these controls so I assumed they work just fine because I haven’t heard about this bug. Good to know :).
Hi @Martin.Jirsak,
thanks for that valuable info, I also fully agree with @Reco29. I didn’t even use the new (?) control options until now, since I’m still mostly using Cubase 13 / 14. Yet these track head(er) controls do look practical and I’d also want to use them in the future in larger templates - hopefully soon, after their unusual orientation has been fixed (hopefully).
Best wishes,
Markus
[edit: Cubase Pro 15, full Track Header control set: 2 rows, length 14, icon fields 14]
Simple function test (Friday, April 17, 2026, Cubase Pro 15.0.20, Windows 11 Pro 25H2):
(1)
Audio Track mono, CR on, Stereo atmo loop “Atmo_04_AM” from “Caleidoscope”
Result PAN control: L = Left, R = Right - no error detected
(2)
Audio Track switched to stereo, CR on, Stereo atmo loop “Atmo_04_AM” from “Caleidoscope”
Result PAN control: L = Left, R = Right - again no error detected (same as Master Bus panner)
Cubase 15.0.20 Windows 11, Pan works as it should here
Yes? I am pretty sure @Martin.Jirsak was referring to the latest Cubase version, too. I’ll also check it first thing when I’m back in the studio.
Very strange.
@caleburnsy You are on Cubase 15.0.20, right? Which OS are you on?
I can repro it on the track header and the Inspector. But how did you do it on the channel view and mix console?
yeah i’m on 15.0.20 (Mac OS, Tahoe 26.2)
thanks sm for confirming + reporting to Steinberg, makes me feel less crazy! i didn’t even notice it occurs on the inspector too. oddly, controls are not reversed for me in MixConsole like you mentioned.
Maybe Martin added the mix console by accident. I shouldn’t say that but I am pretty sure I would have noticed if it had been reversed in the mix console, too.
Hi,
No, I really can replicate the issue in MixConsole on the Audio Track too.
I’m on Mac.
I can click anywhere in the panner field in the channel and don’t get a faulty behaviour. Neither on the value bar, nor below on the characters. The panner cannot be reduced to show only the characters without the value bar. Where do you click?
Hi @Johnny_Moneto,
just edited my last post and also added a screenshot of the “full” control set visible (2 rows, length 14, icon fields 14), plus a simple function test.
Result: no erratic behavior of the track header’s panner, neither on a Mono track, nor on the same track when switched to Stereo.
What the others experience, could this perhaps be something MacOS related? (I’m on Windows 11)
Cheers,
Markus
Hi,
I don’t click at all. I just hover over the panner and scroll on the Track Pad to the left/right. The panner goes in the other direction.
Hi @Martin.Jirsak,
didn’t think of doing that, I’m usually clicking and drawing a fader, or directly use a numeric input. When I use my mouse wheel while hovering over the Track header’s volume and pan faders, the behavior in my Cubase 15 installation on Windows 11 is currently as follows:
Pan fader:
Mouse Wheel down = fader moves to the RIGHT channel
Mouse Wheel up = fader moves to the LEFT channel
Volume fader:
Mouse Wheel down = fader moves to DECREASE the volume
Mouse Wheel up = fader moves to INCREASE the volume
Mixer / Channel Strip:
same behavior
Condition / OS level settings:
no mouse wheel inversion set (Logitech Options+)
Do both faders show the expected / intended / correct behavior?
(can’t compare to your OS, since I don’t use a Mac)
To me, at least mouse over + mouse wheel + volume fader show logical behavior.
Yet the pan fader’s behavior seems reversed (normal “Western” reading direction L → R).
Best,
Markus
Hi,
The up/down scrolling is a different story (and I reported this issue many years ago already). And it’s even worse than you describe.
But the Pan fader is tricky, with the mouse up/down.
By MIDI 1.0 specification, Pan-Left = 0. That means, it makes sense to scroll up, if you want to go from 0-127 (from left to right).
But!!! If you take a look to the Audio waveform, the Left Channel is on top. So it makes sense to scroll down, if you want to go from left to right.
| Position | Audio | MIDI |
|---|---|---|
| L | up | down (0) |
| R | down | up (127) |
Both of them are following the common specification/sense. But putting them together doesn’t make sense at all.
Hi again @Martin.Jirsak,
Thanks! Your explanation makes perfect sense to me.
Yet wouldn’t it be better if Steinberg at least implemented some section-related toggle system, perhaps in Preferences? So that one could adapt to one’s habits and “personal logic”?
I’m thinking about this, since there’s also this slight inconsistency with SHIFT + Mouse Wheel down which IMO should lead to scrolling back to the beginning of a track in the project window, yet right now it’s exactly the other way around: comparable to “pull throttle” to steer an airplane upwards.
Usabilty options in relation to adaptable ergonomics are indeed a very interesting topic.
Cheers,
Markus
There is already a preference for this.
