This object looks promising, the reference uses it in conjunction with transport, which I also have not explored. Thank you for pointing me in this direction- I am going to tinker about to see what I can manage.

By "linear as opposed to a repeated interval" I meant to describe a situation where time is "scrolling" rather than ‘looping", to be very approximate. This is my first foray into any sort of programming at all (save for my old alesis mmt-8 sequencer) so please forgive my lack of familiarity with how these characteristics are named/ known in this community. All insights are very much appreciated!