diff --git a/alsactl/alsactl.c b/alsactl/alsactl.c
index 6a0a395..20ebac1 100644
--- a/alsactl/alsactl.c
+++ b/alsactl/alsactl.c
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ static struct arg args[] = {
 { 'c', "sched-idle", "set the process scheduling policy to idle (SCHED_IDLE)" },
 #ifdef HAVE_ALSA_USE_CASE_H
 { 'D', "ucm-defaults", "execute also the UCM 'defaults' section" },
+{ 'U', "no-ucm", "don't init with UCM" },
 #endif
 { HEADER, NULL, "Available commands:" },
 { CARDCMD, "store", "save current driver setup for one or each soundcards" },
@@ -270,6 +271,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		case 'D':
 			initflags |= FLAG_UCM_DEFAULTS;
 			break;
+		case 'U':
+			initflags |= FLAG_UCM_DISABLED;
+			break;
 		case 'r':
 			statefile = optarg;
 			break;
diff --git a/alsactl/alsactl.h b/alsactl/alsactl.h
index 2352f4c..c478695 100644
--- a/alsactl/alsactl.h
+++ b/alsactl/alsactl.h
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ void error_handler(const char *file, int line, const char *function, int err, co
 #define dbg(args...) do { dbg_(__func__, __LINE__, ##args); }  while (0)
 #endif	
 
-#define FLAG_UCM_DEFAULTS	(1<<0)
+#define FLAG_UCM_DISABLED	(1<<0)
+#define FLAG_UCM_DEFAULTS	(1<<1)
 
 int init(const char *file, int flags, const char *cardname);
 int init_ucm(int flags, int cardno);
diff --git a/alsactl/init_parse.c b/alsactl/init_parse.c
index 4ece067..ee9cc6d 100644
--- a/alsactl/init_parse.c
+++ b/alsactl/init_parse.c
@@ -1762,9 +1762,11 @@ int init(const char *filename, int flags, const char *cardname)
 				break;
 			}
 			first = 0;
-			err = init_ucm(flags, card);
-			if (err == 0)
-				continue;
+			if (!(flags & FLAG_UCM_DISABLED)) {
+				err = init_ucm(flags, card);
+				if (err == 0)
+					continue;
+			}
 			err = init_space(&space, card);
 			if (err == 0) {
 				space->rootdir = new_root_dir(filename);
@@ -1787,9 +1789,11 @@ int init(const char *filename, int flags, const char *cardname)
 			error("Cannot find soundcard '%s'...", cardname);
 			goto error;
 		}
-		err = init_ucm(flags, card);
-		if (err == 0)
-			return 0;
+		if (!(flags & FLAG_UCM_DISABLED)) {
+			err = init_ucm(flags, card);
+			if (err == 0)
+				return 0;
+		}
 		memset(&space, 0, sizeof(space));
 		err = init_space(&space, card);
 		if (err == 0) {