Thanks for the reply Rharv,

I checked the audio driver in BB and it was set to WAS, 'Output always on' was also checked. I unchecked the output always on and tried changing the audio driver to MME for both input and output audio but this didn't change my CPU utilization. As soon as BB is closed, the CPU goes to 99% idle.

Realband was set to WAS also and output always on was checked. I tried unchecking 'Output always on' but this had no effect. Something did change though when I set the audio output driver to Microsoft Sound Mapper. Then the CPU utilization went to 99% idle with Realband running. It stays this way until I check the 'output always on' box, and start playing a song in Realband. As soon as I hit the play button I see the process NT Kernel & System jump to 25%. It stays at 25% if I stop the song playback and minimize Realband.

If I leave the audio output driver set to MME and uncheck the 'Output always on' box, then the NT Kernel & System process goes to 25% while the song is playing but drops to near 0% when the playback is halted in Realband so this seems to act a little different than it did in BB.

Del