im writing this here because the problem is entirely a software issue, hardware works fine and i can get audio to play, however it would appear most streams are running through pulseaudio which only has one means through pavumixer to actually adjust audio, no other volume icons work, they all seemingly control alsa and i can get volume controls to function properly with ALSA output by mapping it through a softvol master in the .asoundrc file, but if i do that i lose out on sound entirely unless its played directly through an ALSA source

what i believe is going on is streams are going directly through pulseaudio, bypassing alsa entirely and not having a simple volume control or hotkeys to function with pulseaudio theres no simple way to control volume without clicking through menus

what im leaning towards doing is scrapping pulseaudio entirely as it seems i cant get any volume applets/icons to effectively turn down my HDMI audio

ive completely scrapped pulseaudio, working with straight ALSA now, problem is i have an HDMI output that id like to be able to control with volume control keys and system tray icons but it doesnt work, ive been trying for about 8 hours now various suggestions in .asoundrc with absolutely no luck, anyone know how i can get softvol to work with my HDMI so all the PC audio will play through that and allow me to adjust the master volume?

this is what .asoundrc looks like below, im using AMD HD7950 graphics card with HDMI.. when i play "aplay -D !default file.wav" nothing comes out, but if i use "hdmi_volume" as the target device i can hear the sample file as well as adjust its volume with a slider, however this does me no good for actually using the audio, such as on websites