No need for /etc/asound.conf ~/.asoundrc for mixing anymore?

Question

Hullo!
I just installed the new version of MPD and was at the first time trying to do ALSA all the mixing of multiple audio streams on its own and found it working without any problems.
Sure, this is surely nothing new an might be the case since a year or something like that, but to improve the Archwiki article on this, I'd like to hear some more experiences with this setup from people who use other programs than me...
Ok, here's how I've done it.
You need a correctly set up ALSA as well as 'libao' installed.
To use libao, create either /etc/libao.conf(for system-wide setup) or ~/.libao and write only this line into it:
default_driver=alsa09
There are (at least to my knowlegde) 3 types of programs:
1. The ones that directly support alsa output
2. Programs that use libao for audio output
3. Programs supporting only oss output.
It is possible to mix the output of all these programs simultaneously to your card. it works!
mpd: (supports direct alsa output)
does not need any sound specific settings in the conf file. It chooses a usable audio output itself.
NOTE:I only have alsa as output device installed. I don't know, who mpd behaves when it finds artsd, esd, jack or whatever. Specifying a certain output may be necessary to have everything working.
mplayer, mpg321, gaim (libao)
these programs use libao to pipe their audio streams to whereever libao sends them, so setting default_driver to alsa09 solves all problems with these programs
opera (as example for the oss fraction)
Has to be started through "aoss opera" to enjoy sound mixing with flash movies and mp3s in the browser. To avoid having to load aoss before starting any oss-app, shaurz has posted a solution in the forums. Nice thing!
That are all the programs I've tried so far and I have no problems with scratching sounds or reduced sound quality (as the wiki says) but maybe I just can't hear any difference with my disco-damaged ears..
What I would like to hear now: Whar are your experiencas with the alsa software mixing systeme aka dmix in 'vanilla setup'? Did you find any programs that need an own asound-configuration or is this setup commonly-usable without any disadvantages so an update to the concerning wiki-page could be finally done?
greets,
jakob

Answer 1

I noticed something strange (cool) aswell. I've got an onboard Realtek somethingsomething sound"card" (using the snd-intel8x0 module). It didn't support mixing out of the box on Linux using ALSA. I had to fiddle aroudn with dmix after which it would work great.
I'm running a pretty recent installation and I hadn't come around to do the mixing part of my sound yet, but yesterday it seemed to work by itself! Before, I could only have one source using ALSA (e.g. one mplayer). But now, it all works together!
I don't know what I did that made this happen. Maybe just a simple pacman -Syu. Or maybe I got wasted and fixed it after I blacked out, another viable possibility.