The cut effect assigns samples to choke groups so a new hit stops previous overlapping hits from the same group

When playing long samples in TidalCycles, successive hits overlap and blur into each other. The cut effect assigns a pattern to a numbered ‘cut group’: when any new event in that group triggers, all currently playing sounds in the same group are immediately stopped. d1 $ sound (samples "arpy*8" (run 8)) # speed "0.25" # cut "1" prevents arpy notes from bleeding into each other. Cut groups are global to the Tidal process, so different connections (d1, d2) should use different cut group numbers to avoid interfering. This is the equivalent of a ‘choke’ or ‘open/closed hi-hat’ relationship in drum machines.

Examples

// without cut: samples bleed
d1 $ sound (samples "arpy*8" (run 8)) # speed "0.25"
// with cut: each new hit stops the previous
d1 $ sound (samples "arpy*8" (run 8)) # speed "0.25" # cut "1"
// two channels with separate groups:
d1 $ sound (samples "arpy*8" (run 8)) # speed "0.25" # cut "1"
d2 $ sound (samples "bass2*6" (run 6)) # speed "0.5" # cut "2"

Assessment

Explain the hardware analogy for cut in terms of drum machines. Then predict what happens if d1 and d2 both use cut "1" — is this a bug or a feature?