Barton BMC020 1Song is a simple, microcontroller centered synthesizer module for generative (self composing) music. It both composes the melodies and produces the audio itself, requiring no other modules to make music, but it also features inputs and outputs for timing which help it integrate with other modules in a modular synthesizer system. It can also be built in a stompbox style enclosure without these inputs and outputs and act as a standalone music producer, powered from a 9V battery or power adaptor.
The melodies that the Barton BMC020 1Song produces are not traditional melodies produced from a diatonic scale and using duple or triple meter for rhythms. Instead, it composes by using algorhythms to produce semi-random numbers, and uses these numbers for it's pitch and length a note is held. Notes are held anywhere from 1 to 16 beats, and there are a total of 64 different notes which can be played. The notes are not arranged 12 per octave, but rather as divisions of the highest frequency, the lowest note it produces is 1/64th the frequency of the highest, the second lowest note is 1/63rd, and so on.
