In music a sound object (objet sonore: Pierre Schaeffer 1959, 1977, p.95), a generalization of the concept of a musical note, is any sound from any source which in duration is on the time scale of 100 ms to several seconds.
A sound object may be distinguished from homogeneous and static or invariant note by its heterogeneous and time-varying properties. Sound objects include some events produced in shakuhachi performance, many extended techniques, and in electronic and electroacoustic musics. (Roads 2001, p.16-18)