There is a setting -not in front of a machine now- which makes that the routing & panning in Nuendo is linked to the “mixer” within the hardware. If you switch it off, it won’t happen anymore. So Cubase/Nuendo remote controls the mixer within the hardware. I think it’s called “ADM” (ASIO Direct Monitoring) on/off. (Unless that has been taking out)
Which is (or was) a different setting than the Direct Monitoring in the device settings Direct Monitoring flag.
Only when you disable “Direct Monitoring”, the signal will actually pass through the software.
Fredo