speeddemon wrote on 2021-06-30, 01:27:

I have a Yamaha YMF724F, Aureal 8830, and Audigy 2 ZS daisy-chained on my Windows 98 computer, but am struggling with volume lev […]
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I have a Yamaha YMF724F, Aureal 8830, and Audigy 2 ZS daisy-chained on my Windows 98 computer, but am struggling with volume levels.
The cards are all daisy-chained YMF724 Out > 8830 In > 8830 Out > Audigy In > Audigy Out > Speakers. I also have the internal S/PDIF connection from my DVD drive going to the Audigy's CD Digital input.
I can't figure out though in Windows 98 what I should be setting all the volume levels to for the various analog/digital inputs/outputs... at 100% I'm hearing things distort, but then I'm concerned about decreasing the volume level as hops are taken between the cards.
Ultimately, is there a way to just set all volume sliders to Line Level and then solely adjust volume at my speakers?
Thanks!

You could try to monitor levels using a recording program on each sound, starting with the first in the chain whose input you are using and work your way downwards, but since volume may vary depending on game/applications, you will likely still end up having to continuously twiddle virtual sliders/knobs to try to optimize things . IMHO, cascading 3 consumer sound cards like that is a bad idea . Other than the potential distortion and noise due to the difficulty in adjusting levels properly along the chain, that kind of setup, even if adjusted perfectly, will combine the internal noise of all the sound cards (including their often crappy line inputs) and is not something that I would recommend doing .

A cheap AV switchbox (less than 20$) would be a better solution if you intend on using only one card at once or an inexpensive (50ish $ ) mixer from the likes Rolls if you plan on using multiple cards at once would serve you much better, IMHO .

Was there no standard for the volume sliders in Windows 98?
i.e. I think in Windows 10 the volume sliders at 100% is line level.

There's no standardization, everyone has their own way. Max level usually adds gain and will clip in many cases.