Oddly softvol=3Dtrue does not seem to work for FLAC playback. When a
FLAC file is played it is played at current PCM volume and ignores the
softvol option. As a hack around this I tried something completely
different from ALSA, but couldn't get it to work either.

I read about configuring ALSA with a builtin software volume plugin.
Apparently you can configure ALSA with an extra mixer device (volume
control) and hand if off to an individual application, but I'm not
sure how to make it work properly. Perhaps someone with experience
can shed some light on this:

# ~/.asound
pcm.cmusvol
{
type softvol
slave
{
pcm "ice1724"
}
control
{
name "CMUS"
card 0
}
}
#end config

]$ amixer controls |grep CMUS
numid=3D28,iface=3DMIXER,name=3D'CMUS'

This new device is visible from alsamixer and can be controlled like
any other. Now to try and make cmus use it:

# ~/.cmus/rc
set softvol=3Dfalse
set output_plugin=3Dalsa
set dsp.alsa.device=3Dcmusvol
set mixer.alsa.device=3Dcmusvol
set mixer.alsa.channel=3DCMUS
#end config

]$ cmus

After all that the new CMUS mixer control doesn't do anything. I'm
guessing my .asound config is incorrect.

-v