If you really don't want to use PulseAudio, you can set 'PULSE=no' in the script's environment. When built without PulseAudio support, ColEm uses OSS for audio. You'll have to either load the OSS emulation modules (via /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa-oss), run it as "aoss colem" from the command line, or launch it from your desktop by opening a .cv or .col file (which will use aoss automatically).