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I have myself been playing with the idea of computer-written music. I had heard of the program that could imitate composers, and wasn't too interested in that. What I think is more interesting is the concept of a computer composing in its own style. Which immediately brings forth the question: what kind of music would a computer write?
Well, obviously it would write whatever sort of music you programmed it to write. But we can get an idea, from first principles, of what type of music computers would be most suited to. So: what are computers good at, and what are they bad at? Well, computers are very good at making large numbers of simple calculations, and they are quite bad at making "intelligent" decisions (which is to say, decisions that are based on far more complex processes). This is more due to human limitations than anything else: it is difficult, though arguably possible, to program a computer to evaluate chess moves in the way that a human does, but it is not difficult to program it to take a much simpler, brute-force approach of evaluating every move. But the point stands. This suggests that computers would be good at writing music which has rigorous technical rules governing its composition. Take, for instance, a canon. Quite difficult for humans to write, since it calls for the evaluation of many possibilities. However, it would not be quite so difficult to program a computer to evaluate all of these possibilities. Computers could potentially work out very complex canons, which would be beyond the capabilities of most human composers: say, a six-part canon in inversion.
So, in summary, computers would probably write quite complex, but quite rigorously structured, music. But, of course, the more important question: would the music be enjoyable? This thread has clearly shown that it is possible for a computer to write enjoyable music. I have done some exploratory coding of my own, as well: only enough to see that the problem is more complex than I initially imagined, but I still believe that it is well within the current state of the art to write a computer program composing in its own style.
Now, the question of originality. I, frankly, believe that computers have far more potential for originality than humans do. A computer can act randomly, which is a capability that humans lack: humans can only arrive at originality by accident or through extensive experimentation. A computer will explore the extremes of the rule systems which you have laid out for it, and perhaps write music that no human would have written. Whether this music would be aesthetically pleasing, I do not know, but if a computer, in its compositional output, produced a few gems amid a pile of duds, then I would consider the effort well spent. Would it not be a wonderful thing, to be able to press a button, and out pops a wholly novel piece of music, possibly trite, and possibly brilliant? Would your curiosity allow you to refrain from pressing that button?
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