AI Human vs Human AI.

AI Human vs Human AI.

From Hack Music Theory by Ray Harmony

March 13, 2026 · 10 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the evolution of music technology and the implications of AI-generated music compared to human-made music.

AI Human vs Human AI . A brief history of transhuman music. Most AI-generated songs now sound more human than most human-made songs. How did music go so horribly wrong? It all happened so fast, too! If you’re a Gen Xer like me, you’ve witnessed this whole process unfold from start to finish in just a few decades. As a kid I remember the first time I saw Depeche Mode performing live on some TV show. I was so confused. I heard drums, but I didn’t see a drummer!? What kind of sorcery was this? Remember, this was before the internet, so I had no way of finding out how they did that. Then a year or so later, I saw these little black boxes in my local music instrument store. “What kind of instrument is that?” I asked the long-haired store clerk, who was rather busy air-guitaring along to some ‘80s shred album. “It’s a drum machine,” he told me. “How does it play the drums?” I asked, with even more curiosity than before. He laughed, and then explained how it doesn’t physically play drums, it’s a computer that replicates the sound of a drummer. I was shocked! “But then bands won’t need drummers anymore?” I said, hoping that he would tell me I’d misunderstood his explanation. But no. He…

People in this episode

Host: Ray Harmony

Topics covered

  • AI in music
  • transhuman music
  • history of music technology
  • impact of technology on musicians
  • human vs AI creativity

Keywords

  • AI music
  • transhumanism
  • music history
  • drum machines
  • Depeche Mode

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Depeche Mode

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