I don't have the answer to why the ADC sliders would zero when you touch the IPGA sliders. This doesn't happen for me. Here, however is the skinny on the two sets of sliders. You can think of the ADC sliders as a master input volume that should usually be all the way up. If they are less than fully open, then you will have to make up that gain in your mike preamps, and introduce more noise. The IPGA (input gain adjust?) sliders are a gain control on the input amp, which is a bit different than a master volume. In general, you want to turn the gain on an amp down all the way, and then open it only as much as you need to to get the needed signal boost, as this is where you will raise the noise floor. Having said that, I find that the IPGA controls an extremely clean amplifier, and may well be a better place to get as much gain as possible unless you have very clean mic preamps. The original philosophy behind this adjuster was to set either the -10 or +4 dB input standard based on what your equipment delivered. Indeed, it makes sense to send what your equipment calls zero dB to the card, and adjust the input on the delta accordingly, and then just leave it there. As for comparison with windows, you will be pleased to learn that while windows has only the two gain positions, ALSA enables us to use any IPGA setting, including setttings up into a range that is far more sensitive than what windows allows, so the flexibility here lies with ALSA. Are you using the latest ALSA and envy24control? As I mentioned, the behavior of the two sets of sliders affecting each other is not the normal behavior. Tobiah