Don't be afraid of OSS.  While it's not perfect for every application (*no*
audio API is), it is still very effective for some.  It has the great benefit
of simplicity -- open a device, set a couple of ioctls, write data, and
you're done.  For simple cases, the whole business can be done in a about a
dozen lines.  See:

       http://manuals.opensound.com/developer/