A method of minimizing a latency between an input signal at a specified input node and a processed output signal at a specified output node in an audio processing network comprising a plurality of locales, each locale having a processing system for processing audio data, wherein an audio signal processing graph is used comprising a plurality of processing nodes and associated with said plurality of locales, the method comprising: receiving information specifying: for each audio input node of the graph, a locale that includes the audio input node; for each audio output node of the graph, a locale that includes the audio output node; and for each processing node of the graph, one or more supported locales for the processing node, wherein each of the one or more supported locales for the processing node includes at least one of a hardware and a software module capable of performing audio processing required by the processing node; for each processing node of the graph for which the received information specifies a plurality of supported locales, automatically determining an optimal supported locale from among the plurality of supported locales for the node; and automatically assigning each of the processing nodes for which the received information specifies a plurality of supported locales to the optimal supported locale for that node, wherein the assignment results in an audio signal processing graph that minimizes the latency between an input signal at the specified input node and a processed output signal at the specified output node, the specified input and output nodes included in a given locale; wherein determining the optimal supported locales and assigning processing nodes comprises: identifying a plurality of nodes of the graph being of a given type of node that has an associative or commutative property; and using the associative or commutative property to change an order of audio signal processing in the graph by rearranging a sequence of the identified nodes of the given type without changing an audio processing behavior of the graph such that the signal path from the specified input node to the specified output node takes place entirely within the given locale; the method further comprising instantiating the optimized audio signal processing graph in the audio processing network (236, 238). receiving information specifying: for each audio input node of the graph, a locale that includes the audio input node; for each audio output node of the graph, a locale that includes the audio output node; and for each processing node of the graph, one or more supported locales for the processing node, wherein each of the one or more supported locales for the processing node includes at least one of a hardware and a software module capable of performing audio processing required by the processing node; for each audio input node of the graph, a locale that includes the audio input node; for each audio output node of the graph, a locale that includes the audio output node; and for each processing node of the graph, one or more supported locales for the processing node, wherein each of the one or more supported locales for the processing node includes at least one of a hardware and a software module capable of performing audio processing required by the processing node; for each processing node of the graph for which the received information specifies a plurality of supported locales, automatically determining an optimal supported locale from among the plurality of supported locales for the node; and automatically assigning each of the processing nodes for which the received information specifies a plurality of supported locales to the optimal supported locale for that node, wherein the assignment results in an audio signal processing graph that minimizes the latency between an input signal at the specified input node and a processed output signal at the specified output node, the specified input and output nodes included in a given locale; identifying a plurality of nodes of the graph being of a given type of node that has an associative or commutative property; and using the associative or commutative property to change an order of audio signal processing in the graph by rearranging a sequence of the identified nodes of the given type without changing an audio processing behavior of the graph such that the signal path from the specified input node to the specified output node takes place entirely within the given locale; the method further comprising instantiating the optimized audio signal processing graph in the audio processing network (236, 238).