Working with long samples - max pattern time?

I would like to work with long samples (drones) of 5 to 10 minutes. Setting BPM to 32 (lowest) and the number of steps per Tracker to 512 (max) I get 4 minutes per Pattern. Is that the maximum length of a Pattern or is there a way to extend that time?

Is it absolutely necessary to have the drone fit the max patternlength? Why not simply create more than one pattern and have sync enabled, so when starting your project wherever will play the sample from the correct position.

That sounds like what I need. I’ve gone through the documentation, but can’t determine how to set it up. How do I do that?

It’s called “autoseek” in the sample properties.

Thank you. That did it.