Tidal's cut stops any other sound using the same cut group, while legato controls how long a sound plays before the next one starts

When working with long samples in TidalCycles, two parameters control overlap: cut n assigns a sound to a cut group — any new sound in that group stops the previous one (useful for samples that should not overlap like a hi-hat); legato n sets a relative playback length, where legato 1 plays the sample until the next event, and legato 0.5 plays half that duration. Unlike cut, legato does not stop other samples. These are typically used with longer melodic or loop samples, not short percussion hits.

Examples

d1 $ sound "bev" # cut 1 — each new bev sample stops the previous. d2 $ sound "sax(3,8)" # legato 1 — each sax note plays until the next.

Assessment

When would you use cut vs. legato? Write a pattern using cut to create a chopped feel on a long pad sample, and one using legato to make notes overlap smoothly.