I have a finished mixed track that I need to pitch shift up by a tone. It's an ambient/electronic pad-based track that's about 7 mins long and has no vocals or drums. What's the best way to do it without introducing too many artifacts (I have Sonar X1 Producer)?

Would I be better off using a standalone app or can it be done well in Sonar X1? The Cakewalk Pitch Shifter plugin doesn't seem to do a very good job - is there another way or any tips?

Alternatively I saw Sony Sound Forge Studio can maybe do it and I don't mind paying $60 but if X1 can do it well I'd rather use that. 

Is it a MIDI based project, or done with hardware? If MIDI, you could just transpose the notes up a tone. If audio, others will have far better answers than me.
Best of luck.

If you want to preserve duration, use SONAR's Transpose DSP process. It uses iZotope's Radius algorithm which is equal to the algorithm in Sound Forge. Just make sure you check the Transpose Audio box, and choose the Mix algorithm.
 
If you don't need to preserve duration and don't care if transposing up shortens the song, then you can use the Loop Construction window to do a traditional "tape Varispeed" effect.
 
If these descriptions aren't clear enough, circle back and I'll go into more detail.
 
 

Is it fair to say that X1 was better equipped in this regard?
 
X3/Splat do not have Pitch Shifter nor V-Vocal ... yet have Melodyne Essential (which is just monophonic). I've done a little vocal correction/harmonizing and basic audio to midi and Melodyne Essential was fine. But after seeing this post I tried ambient pads and it didn't hold up well at all - chopping at the transients.
 
Full Melodyne is too pricey for my needs. I saw iZotope Nectar 2 on a good sale recently but still didn't want to pay ~$120. So I picked up Melda MMultiBandHarmonizer half price on one of their regular sales - Reg US$54 - my price $26. So I tried a few things out:
MAutoPitch (part of the free bundle)  didn't cope too well - but it's free and you might like a look enroute to ...
MMultiBandHarmonizer - this did an alright job, with a number of methods. On my short investigation 'Basic Shifter' and 'Effect' modes were as good as any. A full (I think) demo is available for 14 days as part of the full installer (along with all the freebies). If you like it and according to means, buy it or keep an eye out for the next half price sale - 5 products change weekly.
 
I also searched my VSTs and found a freebie I'd forgotten about (though not as good nor diverse as MMBH it held up surprisingly well - you might like have a look): 
Aegean Music Pitchproof - Pitchshifter / Harmonizer
 
Of course, your Melodynes, Autotunes and Nectars will likely do a better job ... with a price tag to boot.
 

Sorry for the delay in replying and thanks for all the feedback.

@Zarrg71:
The project is a mix of midi and rendered audio, so it's probably easier to just transpose the final mixed track rather than each individual part which could give mixed results.

@Anderton:
Duration doesn't really matter. If it changes by even 20 seconds it won't affect the outcome (which is to match the key of another track that fades into it). I think I did try using the Loop Construction view but it seemed to add some artifacts at various points. Perhaps I'll try it again and play around with some of the settings. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing an easier way to do it.

@ShellstaX:
Re: Cakewalk's included Pitch Shifter in X1 - maybe it's just my source material but that plugin sounded terrible on it. But thanks for the heads up on the other plugs - I'll take a look into these too. 

Thank you :)

Audacity ?
 
http://web.audacityteam.org/
 

If you happen to have Sound Forge it will do this quite well. Probably only the "Pro" version, though.

Larry Jones
If you happen to have Sound Forge it will do this quite well. Probably only the "Pro" version, though.

There's no significant difference in terms of audio quality between the Radius algorithm in SONAR and the zplane one in Sound Forge. However, the zplane can resolve to less than a semitone.

James P
@Anderton:
Duration doesn't really matter. If it changes by even 20 seconds it won't affect the outcome (which is to match the key of another track that fades into it). I think I did try using the Loop Construction view but it seemed to add some artifacts at various points. Perhaps I'll try it again and play around with some of the settings. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing an easier way to do it.

You have to use the Loop Construction window without creating a loop. Here are details for fine-tuning, but they also work for larger intervals: http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3081053
 
This article I wrote for Sound on Sound covers Varispeed techniques using the Loop Construction window, again which require not creating a loop: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun14/articles/sonar-tech-0614.htm
 

Anderton

Larry Jones
If you happen to have Sound Forge it will do this quite well. Probably only the "Pro" version, though.

There's no significant difference in terms of audio quality between the Radius algorithm in SONAR and the zplane one in Sound Forge. However, the zplane can resolve to less than a semitone.

I brought it up mainly because the interface and steps to accomplish this are bone simple. Good to know that audio quality is up to snuff, too. What I (still) don't know is if the "lite" version of Sound Forge often shipped free with other software and hardware has this capability. I'm guessing not.