Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for analyzing, separating and extracting audio signals. Due to the generation of a series of short-time spectra, a non-linear mapping into the pitch excitation layer, a non-linear mapping into the rhythm excitation layer, extraction of the coherent frequency streams, extraction of the coherent time events and the modeling of the residual signal, the audio signal can be decomposed into rhythm and frequency portions with which the signal can be further processed in a simple manner. The uses of said method are: data compression, manipulation of the time base, tune and formant structure, notation, track separation and identification of audio data.