Abstract: A graphics display controller is used to manage audio data within a computer-based multimedia system. A portion of the video display memory associated with the graphics display controller is allocated to one or more audio data buffers to hold digitized data for audio recording and/or playback. Preferably, the size and location of the audio buffer(s) relative to the video data is dynamically configureable within the memory. The timing of the audio data transfer into or out of the video display memory is preferably controlled by the video horizontal sync (HSYNC) signal, so that audio data transfers occur substantially during the pauses in video-memory access that correspond to the retrace time at the end of each video display line. A single, unified host CPU interface and related circuitry is preferably used for control or data-transfer functions related both to video graphics and to audio.