I moved the thread to Applications.
I am thinking now this is just me being tired - as the alsamixer controls work fine.
To use them I need to press the Fn key, hold it down, and press the Function keys (F2, F3, F4, etc … ) and alsamixer works great. If I don’t hold down the Fn key, then the hardware controls for audio and for screen brightness are applied.
I’ve been playing with this new laptop for too long - and clearly need a break/rest, before I do something silly. lol!