Modular audio data processing architecture

An audio data processing system (10) is described which comprises a control processor (12) coupled to an execution controller (22) through a bus (21). The control processor (12) serves as a master processor to control the operation of the execution controller (22) which in turn controls the operation of a multiplier accumulator (28). An ancillary data handler (20) is provided to retrieve ancillary data from an input FIFO buffer (18). Audio data is retrieved from the input FIFO buffer (18) by the control processor (12) and processed audio data is output through an output block (30).