I like the idea of a global slider/setting that a pattern is free to use. This would have to allow for slower and faster settings.
I have also experimented with giving adjusted input to time() and delta. In general this works well to slow time, but breaks sync unless every controller has the same time scale. One way I could solve this is to send the timescale as well, overriding settings on synched controllers.
Time() is unique in that it can run backwards! It would be cool to make a time scrubber. Especially for a fancy sequence editor.
The POV experiments made me realize that there’s a need for a sub-ms scale time() like function as well, though sync at that level would be a challenge.
Having an API to mess with time would be cool as well, so that the animation speed could be reactive to some input like an accelerometer/gyro on a spinning poi/staff.
Ideally this would be glitch free, but that requires state. The way time () works, passing in different inputs throws the phase off.
A new stateful API may be needed, where you create time source objects and configure them. They could keep track of phase internally and adjust for speed settings while still syncing in a network unlike the ones made with delta.