Release stage is the last stage of the ADSR envelope. When that happens, release stage comes into play. Sustain stage lasts until you let go of the key dedicated to the note you are playing at the moment.

This can last for a brief moment, or for an infinite amount of time. What this means is that once you reach sustain stage, the volume of your note will remain the same as long as you are pressing down on the key. Unlike the previous two stages, sustain is not a temporal parameter. If you set decay time to zero, you will hear a fade in from the attack stage, and a sudden drop to sustain level. Similar to attack stage, decay can also be very long, or almost non existent. Once that happens, the decay will bring the volume down to the level of sustain. It comes into effect as soon as the attack reaches its peak. Decayĭecay is the next stage of the envelope. If you set it to be short or non existent, the note will be played at maximum value as soon as you hit the key. If you set your attack to be long, you will get a slow fade in effect. So when you play a note, attack stage will set the time it takes for the note to fade in to full volume. The attack stage of the ADSR envelope is the initial stage that dictates the time it takes for that particular sound to rise in volume from its minimum value to its maximum value.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these four stages and see what they do. Attack, decay and release are temporal parameters while sustain is a level parameter. There are four stages of an ADSR envelope – attack decay sustain release. It gives you complete control over things like pitch, timbre and volume. In modern synths, an ADSR envelope is a feature that allows you to automate certain parameters of the sound. It wasn’t until the invention of synths that you finally had full control of attack sustain decay release parameters. You can somewhat affect some of the properties, but the shape and mechanics of the instrument generally dictate what these properties will be, and how much you can change them. Mechanical instruments such as pianos, guitars, violins and similar have a set nature of the tone. This property of the instrument is what ADSR envelopes were created to control. when you play a note on an electric guitar, the volume will be the highest right after you pick the string, and it will rapidly die down. When you play any instrument, the sound it produces will have certain properties.įor example. ADSR envelops became widespread with the invention of synths, and plays a major role in shaping the sound you get from these instruments.

Harmor vst attack setting