yep - damping is the Fairlight version of Release. Another way is to use a function with the input as KEYTIM (key time). you can then use tracking to speed up/down how fast it tracks...
I realise now it's mentioned in part four of "The Fairlight Explained" by Jim Grant, from back in 1984:
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-fairlight-explained/7947
The article points out that the London College of Furniture owned a Fairlight CMI - Jim Grant was a senior lecturer there - which is something I would never have guessed. They apparently had a well-equipped music technology school on account of the historical links between piano-making and musicians. Sound on Sound has a photo of the very same Fairlight in 1989. I wonder what happened to it?
Alas the London College of Furniture doesn't exist any more. It seems to have been absorbed by the London Metropolitan Museum.