linger
From TidalCycles userbase
Type: linger :: Pattern Time -> Pattern a -> Pattern a
linger is similar to trunc, in that it truncates a pattern so that only the first fraction of the pattern is played. However unlike trunk, linger repeats that part to fill the remainder of the cycle.
For example this repeats the first quarter, so you only hear a single repeating note:
d1 $ linger 0.25 $ n "0 2 [3 4] 2" # sound "arpy"
or slightly more interesting, applied only every fourth cycle:
d1 $ every 4 (linger 0.25) $ n "0 2 [3 4] 2" # sound "arpy"
or to a chopped-up sample:
d1 $ every 2 (linger 0.25) $ loopAt 2 $ chop 8 $ sound "breaks125"
You can also pattern the first parameter, for example to cycle through three values, one per cycle:
d1 $ linger "<0.75 0.25 1>" $ sound "bd sn:2 [mt rs] hc"
d1 $ linger "<0.25 0.5 1>" $ loopAt 2 $ chop 8 $ sound "breaks125"