For the third time, stop tapping!
my primary school teacher screams at me from across the room.
I must not have heard her the first two times.
While my body was in maths class, my mind was elsewhere.
These kinds of daydreams happened a lot.
More than my teacher, and my parents, would have liked.
But that didnt stop me.
Drumming was my creative outlet, an escape from the whirlwind of adolescence and maths, of course.
Back then, the ultimate form of musical immersion was playing drums to my favourite tunes.
For that, you had to get your hands on drumless tracks.
This way you wouldnt justplaywith your favourite drummer you couldbecomeyour favourite drummer.
But in the early 2000s, removing drums from a song was almost impossible.
This technological impasse forced me, and millions of others, into the role of backup drummer.
If only there were a simple way to remove the drums from any song, I mused…
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Fast forward to the present day and my musical dreams have become reality.
One of them is Moises, founded by Brazilian web developer Geraldo Ramos.
Like me, Ramos is a drummer.
Unlike me, hes also atechwhizz.
Ive been involved with computers since very young, but I also play the drums, Ramos tells TNW.
With Moises, I bought the two together.
Spleeter was revolutionary for the time, but it was built for researchers, not musicians.
Ramos took the model and used it to create an alpha version of the Moises app.
Over 50,000 people signed up within the first week.
Moises says it now has 50 million registered users on its platform.
Theappis used by amateurs looking to practise their craft.
Its also endorsed by an ensemble of rising stars.
YouTube drummer Jorge Garrido, aka El Estepario Siberiano, says the tool is a total game changer.
El Estepario, from Valencia, Spain, rose to fame through viral Instagram videos.
Increasingly, that includes using artificial intelligence.
Tools like AI are just making things easier, he says.
Technology is the new democracy for artists.
One of these tools picks up the beat of any song and then adds a metronome to it.
Another for guitarists can automatically detect the chords of any track.
Ramos says the company is committed to ethical AI.
Ninety percent of our team are musicians, he says.
Were not trying to replace real music but enhance it.
Udios and Sunos tools allow users to produce entire songs by typing in written descriptions.
The companies claim their use of copyrighted material falls under fair use, acommon defencefrom AI companies.
I fully expect Al to write great songs.
We will go to shows where the stars are Al but appear on stage just the same.
Everything is about to change.
But Numan does believe that human creativity will endure.
Others are less doomsday-ish.
LCCM is one of many music schools that have integrated AI into their teaching approach.
However, Milne stresses that AI in music isnt a monolith.
Its an important distinction like any powerful tool, itshowAI is wielded that makes all the difference.
So for now, thank you, machines, for allowing me to relive my musical fantasies.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
