A “patch” could also include a wire to an an external sequencer or arpeggiator, and in this way would include a “melody”. This is trivially easy to do in a software synth, but also perfectly possible in an original “patch”.
The article makes it sound as if just switching the machine on with the right patch configured, gives you a polyphonic composition.
Even if you patch-in a sequencer, the patch doesn't include the sequence. You couldn't use patch cords to determine the melody.
Also, I think that back in the analogue synth days, you couldn't get a sequencer that stored multiple parts; one sequencer, one part. Also storage was limited; you couldn't sequence more than a few lines of music.
Maybe I remember wrong; I didn't get to mess with sequencers.
As pointed out in sibling posts, it is a (very charming, IMHO) work of fiction, and as such the librarian could be considered an unreliable narrator rather than a fact-checking journalist. A little artistic licence goes a long way and although it may not be exactly how modular synths commonly work I think it was a nice literary device to build wonder around what the machine can do.
Even if you patch-in a sequencer, the patch doesn't include the sequence. You couldn't use patch cords to determine the melody.
Also, I think that back in the analogue synth days, you couldn't get a sequencer that stored multiple parts; one sequencer, one part. Also storage was limited; you couldn't sequence more than a few lines of music.
Maybe I remember wrong; I didn't get to mess with sequencers.