With historical roots in the work of composer Iannis Xenakis, this term is currently strongly associated with the work of Curtis Roads. Broadly, the term refers to conceiving of and representing sound in terms of particles. These sounds fall within the domain that Roads calls the "micro time scale". He defines this scale as one that embraces transient audio phenomena, a broad class of sounds that extends from the threshold of timbre perception (several hundred microseconds) up to the duration of short sound objects (ca. 100 milliseconds). Roads has recently published a book entitled Microsound (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001).

Ce terme puise son origine dans le travail du compositeur Iannis Xenakis. Actuellement, il est très fortement associé au travail de Curtis Roads. Pour simplifier, il désigne la conception et la représentation de sons en terme de particules. Ces sons font partie du domaine des échelles de micro-temps, nommé ainsi par Curtis Roads. Celui-ci définit ces échelles comme embrassant la totalité des phénomènes audio transitoires, du seuil de la perception du timbre (quelques centaines de micro-secondes) jusqu'à la durée de courts objets sonores (environ 100 millisecondes). Curtis Roads a récemment publié un livre sur ce concept et intitué Microsound (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001).

Il termine trae la sua origine dal lavoro del compositore Iannis Xenakis. Recentemente, è associato a quello di Curtis Roads. In generale, designa la concezione e rappresentazione di suoni in particelle. Questi suoni fanno parte del campo che Roads chiama “micro time scale”, scala dei micro tempi. Roads intende questa scala come comprendente tutta la totalità dei fenomeni audio transitori, dalla soglia della percezione del timbro (alcune centinaia di microsecondi) fino alla durata degli oggetti sonori (circa 100 millisecondi). Roads ha pubblicato a questo proposito il libro Microsound (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001).

With historical roots in the work of composer Iannis Xenakis, this term is currently strongly associated with the work of Curtis Roads. Broadly, the term refers to conceiving of and representing sound in terms of particles. These sounds fall within the domain that Roads calls the "micro time scale". He defines this scale as one that embraces transient audio phenomena, a broad class of sounds that extends from the threshold of timbre perception (several hundred microseconds) up to the duration of short sound objects (ca. 100 milliseconds). Roads has recently published a book entitled Microsound (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001).

Con sus raíces históricas en la obra del compositor Iannis Xenakis, este término está hoy en día fuertemente vinculado con el trabajo de Curtis Roads. En un sentido amplio, este término hace referencia a la concepción y representación del sonido como partículas. Estos sonidos caen dentro del dominio que Roads llama "micro-escala temporal". Él define a esta escala como aquella que abarca fenómenos transitorios de audio, una amplia clase de sonidos que se extiende desde el umbral de la percepción del timbre (varios cientos de microsegundos) hasta la duración de objetos sonoros breves (alrededor de los 100 milisegundos). Roads ha publicado recientemente un libro titulado Microsound (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001).