A method for managing system audio settings in a system having one or more software applications for generating audio signals, wherein the system includes an audio setting hierarchy, wherein the audio setting hierarchy comprises volume control settings at an application volume level corresponding to volumes for audio signals generated by software applications, volume control settings at a channel volume level corresponding to volumes for audio signals generated by audio channels and a main volume control setting at a main volume level for audio signals generated by all audio channels in the computer system, and wherein the overall output volume of audio signals generated by a software application corresponds to the product of the volume control settings for each level of the audio setting hierarchy for said software application, the method comprising: generating a flat volume characteristics tree based on current volume control settings, wherein the flat volume characteristics tree is a tree structure including: a first level comprising a node, wherein the value of the node corresponds to the current setting of the main volume control setting; a second level comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein the values of the plurality of nodes at the second level correspond to the current volume control settings at the channel volume level; and a third level comprising a plurality of leaf nodes, wherein the values of the plurality of nodes at the third level correspond to the volume control settings at the application volume level; optimizing the flat volume characteristics tree by performing a top-down replacement of all node values with a product of a value from a parent node and a current value, and subsequently performing a bottom-up replacement of all node values with a maximum value from all children nodes; generating a first user interface representative of a flat volume control for a first software application, wherein the flat volume control for the first software application corresponds to the overall output volume of the audio signals generated by said first software application; obtaining a user manipulation of the first user interface representative of the flat volume control for the first software application; modifying the flat volume characteristics tree according to the user manipulation; and adjusting one or more volume control setting values in the audio setting hierarchy corresponding to the user manipulation of the first user interface based on the flat volume characteristics tree by performing a top-down replacement of all node values with a quotient of a value from a parent node and a current value, wherein the value of the top node is set to 1. generating a flat volume characteristics tree based on current volume control settings, wherein the flat volume characteristics tree is a tree structure including: a first level comprising a node, wherein the value of the node corresponds to the current setting of the main volume control setting; a second level comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein the values of the plurality of nodes at the second level correspond to the current volume control settings at the channel volume level; and a third level comprising a plurality of leaf nodes, wherein the values of the plurality of nodes at the third level correspond to the volume control settings at the application volume level; a first level comprising a node, wherein the value of the node corresponds to the current setting of the main volume control setting; a second level comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein the values of the plurality of nodes at the second level correspond to the current volume control settings at the channel volume level; and a third level comprising a plurality of leaf nodes, wherein the values of the plurality of nodes at the third level correspond to the volume control settings at the application volume level; optimizing the flat volume characteristics tree by performing a top-down replacement of all node values with a product of a value from a parent node and a current value, and subsequently performing a bottom-up replacement of all node values with a maximum value from all children nodes; generating a first user interface representative of a flat volume control for a first software application, wherein the flat volume control for the first software application corresponds to the overall output volume of the audio signals generated by said first software application; obtaining a user manipulation of the first user interface representative of the flat volume control for the first software application; modifying the flat volume characteristics tree according to the user manipulation; and adjusting one or more volume control setting values in the audio setting hierarchy corresponding to the user manipulation of the first user interface based on the flat volume characteristics tree by performing a top-down replacement of all node values with a quotient of a value from a parent node and a current value, wherein the value of the top node is set to 1.