time and events

Hi to everybody this is my first post. I followed a little introduction online course on the web, and I have never programmed before with code, I used only max/MSP.

I'm trying to switch from that way of thinking in this way.

Usually I used to think the time in millisecond or BPM, then I would like to ask you if it's possible to do the same in processing.

(I'm interesting in audiovisual.) A practical example:

SETUP:

1. ableton live, with my track.
2. max4live analysis of the audio, audio amplitude.
3. from m4l with OSC to processing.

the sound lasts 5 seconds.

in that time (5 seconds).

move an ellipse from x0, y0 to x100,y100. or generate a random trajectory ...

my idea was ,if processing receive an OSC message

it has to start.

then the color will change with the amplitude amount ..

anyway, is it possible to think in millisecond ?

Are there more efficient ways of thinking?

Thx guys.