should calling mixer load soundcard drivers?

[Jason Keltz]

Should calling xfce4-mixer cause my Linux system to load the soundcard 
drivers?

Case in point...

Before I start xfce4-mixer, the following modules are loaded:
snd-mixer-oss          16184   0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd                    47812   0 (autoclean) [snd-mixer-oss]
soundcore               7076   0 (autoclean) [snd]

If I start xfce4-mixer at this point, I can't adjust any of the 
settings.  There are no options.  On the other hand, if I manually load 
"alsamixer" and then exit, the required sound modules are loaded...

snd-intel8x0           24936   0 (autoclean)
snd-ac97-codec         59676   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-pcm                88160   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-page-alloc          9108   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
snd-timer              20676   0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
gameport                3524   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-mpu401-uart         5664   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi            18944   0 (autoclean) [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device          6028   0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
snd-mixer-oss          16184   0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd                    47812   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0 
snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm snd-timer snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi 
snd-seq-device snd-mixer-oss]
soundcore               7076   1 (autoclean) [snd]

If I try xfce4-mixer at this point, it works perfectly fine.

Should xfce4-mixer cause the sound card modules to load like with alsamixer?

jas.