Methods and systems for an object-oriented arrangement of musical ideas

1. A method for playing a plurality of audio objects, the method comprising:

displaying the plurality of audio objects on a display, each audio object being displayed at a location having a horizontal component and a vertical component, wherein the location of each audio object is changeable by a user;

responsive to a first playback command, playing each of the plurality of audio objects, wherein each audio object starts playing after a delay corresponding to the location of the audio object;

wherein the delay after which the audio object starts playing is proportional to the horizontal component of the audio object's location, and wherein at least two of the plurality of audio objects are displayed at locations having different horizontal components; and

wherein each of the plurality of audio objects corresponds to an audio clip associated with a musical instrument, and at least two of the plurality of audio objects are displayed at locations having the same vertical component, and correspond to audio clips associated with different musical instruments.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of audio objects is selectable by the user, the method further comprising:

responsive to a second playback command, simultaneously starting playback of one or more audio objects, at a point in time corresponding to a beginning of a time segment, selected by the user.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising delaying the simultaneous start until a point in time corresponding to a beginning of a new time segment.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon determining that the location of a first object of the plurality of the audio objects has been changed, and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from the location of a second object of the plurality of the audio objects, adjusting the location of the first object so as to make the first object adjacent to the second object.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon determining that the location of a first object of the plurality of the audio objects has been changed, and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from an edge between two other objects of the plurality of the audio objects, adjusting the location of the first object and at least one of the two other objects so as to put the first object between and adjacent to the two other objects.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

recording an audio input;

identifying a starting time at which the audio input exceeds a predefined sound level threshold;

storing the recorded audio input, wherein the stored audio input comprises the audio input recorded before the starting time; and

creating a new audio object associated with stored audio input.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon detecting a request to combine a first object and a second object, assigning the first object and the second object to a new group of objects, wherein each of the first and second objects comprises either one of the plurality of audio objects or a previously created group of objects comprising two or more of the plurality of audio objects.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein detecting the request to combine comprises determining that the location of the first object was changed and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from the location of the second object.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to execute a method comprising:

displaying the plurality of audio objects on a display, each audio object being displayed at a location having a horizontal component and a vertical component, wherein the location of each audio object is changeable by a user;

responsive to a first playback command, playing each of the plurality of audio objects, wherein each audio object starts playing after a delay corresponding to the location of the audio object;

wherein the delay after which the audio object starts playing is proportional to the horizontal component of the audio object's location, and wherein at least two of the plurality of audio objects are displayed at locations having different horizontal components; and

wherein each of the plurality of audio objects corresponds to an audio clip associated with a musical instrument, and wherein at least two of the plurality of audio objects are displayed at locations having the same vertical component, and correspond to audio clips associated with different musical instruments.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of audio objects is selectable by the user, and wherein the method further comprises:

responsive to a second playback command, simultaneously starting playback of one or more audio objects, at a point in time corresponding to a beginning of a time segment, selected by the user.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises delaying the simultaneous start until a point in time corresponding to a beginning of a new time segment.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:

upon determining that the location of a first object of the plurality of the audio objects has been changed, and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from the location of a second object of the plurality of the audio objects, adjusting the location of the first object so as to make the first object adjacent to the second object.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:

upon determining that the location of a first object of the plurality of the audio objects has been changed, and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from an edge between two objects of the plurality of the audio objects, adjusting the location of the first object and at least one of the two other objects so as to put the first object between and adjacent to the two other objects.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:

recording an audio input;

identifying a starting time at which the audio input exceeds a predefined sound level threshold;

storing the recorded audio input, wherein the stored audio input comprises the audio input recorded before the starting time; and

creating a new audio object associated with the stored audio input.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:

upon detecting a request to combine a first object and a second object, assigning the first object and the second object to a new group of objects, wherein each of the first and the second objects comprises either one of the plurality of audio objects or a previously created group of objects comprising two or more of the plurality of audio objects.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein detecting the request to combine comprises determining that the location of the first object was changed and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from the location of the second object.

17. An electronic device comprising a processor, the processor configured to:

display the plurality of audio objects on a display, each audio object being displayed at a location having a horizontal component and a vertical component, wherein the location of each audio object is changeable by a user;

responsive to a first playback command, play each of the plurality of audio objects, wherein each audio object starts playing after a delay corresponding to the location of the audio object;

wherein the delay after which the audio object starts playing is proportional to the horizontal component of the audio object's location, and wherein at least two of the plurality of audio objects are displayed at locations having different horizontal components;

wherein each of the plurality of audio objects corresponds to an audio clip associated with a musical instrument, and wherein at least two of the plurality of audio objects are displayed at locations having the same vertical component, and correspond to audio clips associated with different musical instruments.

18. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein each of the plurality of audio objects is selectable by the user, and the processor is further configured to:

responsive to a second playback command, simultaneously starting playback of one or more audio objects, at a point in time corresponding to a beginning of a time segment, selected by the user.

19. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to delay the simultaneous start until a point in time corresponding to a beginning of a new time segment.

20. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

upon determining that the location of a first object of the plurality of the audio objects has been changed, and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from the location of a second object of the plurality of the audio objects, adjusting the location of the first object so as to make the first object adjacent to the second object.

21. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

upon determining that the location of a first object of the plurality of the audio objects has been changed, and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from an edge between two other objects of the plurality of the audio objects, adjusting the location of the first object and at least one of the two other objects so as to put the first object between and adjacent to the two other objects.

22. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

record an audio input;

identify a starting time at which the audio input exceeds a predefined sound level threshold;

store the recorded audio input, wherein the stored audio input comprises the audio input recorded before the starting time; and

create a new audio object associated with the stored audio input.

23. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

upon detecting a request to combine a first object and a second object, assign the first object and the second object to a new group of objects, wherein each of the first and the second objects comprises either one of the plurality of audio objects or a previously created group of objects comprising two or more of the plurality of audio objects.

24. The electronic device of claim 23 , wherein detecting the request to combine comprises determining that the location of the first object was changed and that the changed location is within a predefined distance from the location of the second object.