A signal processing system control method and apparatus are described. Various embodiments include a signal processing system with multiple subsystems (411, 413, 415). A method for controlling the signal processing system includes storing channel records in a designated area of shared memory (401). A channel records include channel data which includes one of multiple discrete signals to be processed by multiple subsystems in a time-multiplexed manner. The channel record includes information used by the multiple subsystems to process a channel, including information used to configure the multiple subsystems, information used to allocate the shared memory (401), and information used to communicate between multiple subsystems (411, 413, 415).