The invention relates to an audio processing system 1. In order to improve the audio processing, the system comprises at least one audio processing component 11, 12, 13 with a group of real-time functions 14 for processing audio data and a group of control functions 15 for processing control signals. The system further comprises at least one processor 16 providing a first process 20 for executing real-time functions 14 of the at least one audio processing component 11, 12, 13 using a basically constant processing power and at least one further process 30 for executing control functions 15 of the at least one audio processing component 11, 12, 13 when needed without affecting the processing power employed for the first process 20. The invention relates equally to a corresponding method and to a corresponding software program product.