What is the meaning of attak and decay in the elements of music?

Answer 1

the attack and decay are two parts of a note's envelope which have an attack phase, a sustain phase, a decay then finally a release phase. the attack is how quickly the note reaches its loudest point,. take a guitar for example, when the string is plucked it is immediately at its loudest, that is the attack, the sustain is how long the note stays at its loudest point, with a guitar this depends on the strength of the pluck, a strong pluck will give a long sustain where a soft pluck will have a small sustain decay is how long the note takes to drop to go from its highest point to its release point, which is considered its quietest phase, the trail of the note when in the decay phase goes from loud to almost silent, if you look at a guitar string audio wave the decay phase is where the tail begins to get smaller.

release is where the sound finally dissipates with a guitar release is immediate after decay, however with electronic synthesis, you have the option to allow a longer release allowing the note to persist for greater time.