Object-orientation increases portability, flexibilty and reuse of software components; distribution improves performance, scalability and collaboration. We propose a distributed object computing (DOC) framework for the development of sound processing software on workstation- and personal computers, which apart from providing low-level support for object distribution, also mediates between program parts that have been written in different languages. The system's design is based on a generalization and unification of concepts from the various prevalent paradigms of computper music.