It shouldn't be necessary to configure module aliases in order for /etc/init.d/alsasound to load the correct modules. hotplug does this automatically on startup. I have made a small change to make alsasound depend on hotplug. The result is that sound modules are already loaded when alsasound runs, so all it has to do is restore the mixer levels. I think this helps make Gentoo a more cutting-edge and easier-to-configure (and reconfigure, if your hardware changes) distro.
Created attachment 43957 [details, diff] patch to make ALSA start after hotplug
uhm... this has been in portage for about a month... but I suggest you get the new version out of portage rather than using your modifications as there are some other issues that need to be addressed than just reordering the boot order.
