Tidal's begin and end play only part of a sample, and unit "c" makes speed stretch playback to fit the cycle

In TidalCycles, begin p and end p set the start and end points (0–1) of a sample so only a portion plays: # begin 0.75 # end 1 plays the final quarter. By default speed changes playback rate independently of tempo, but # unit "c" changes speed’s behaviour so the number sets how many cycles the sample stretches over — making playback track the cps. Together these let you time-align a break to the tempo manually. In practice, chop/slice/splice with loopAt automate what begin/end/unit do by hand.

Examples

d1 $ sound "break:8*4" # begin 0.75 # end 1 — plays the final quarter, four times. d1 $ sound "break:8" # speed 1 # unit "c" # begin 0.75 # end 1 — stretches that quarter to fit the cps.

Assessment

Write a pattern that plays only the second half of a break and stretches it to fit one cycle using begin, end, and unit. Why does unit "c" change what the speed number means?