receive~ / mc.receive latency

hey folks! i’m wondering if anyone who’s run tests on this can lay out for me what exactly the rules are for when/where receive~ objects will add a vector of delay. I’m working on a system/rig in which each “channel” is its own top level patcher window. Hence, the only way to sum or route audio is via s~ and r~. I’m running into some confusion because when sending audio between patchers, most receive~ objects will have zero latency but will be inexplicably delayed in others, even when there is no apparent feedback loop. I’d like to create a sort of automatic system for delay compensation but i can’t do that if the behavior is unpredictable.

This is all using mc.send~ and mc.receive~ but i don’t know if that makes a difference.

Thanks!