ShellstaX
Is it fair to say that X1 was better equipped in this regard?

 
Actually, no...keep reading
 

X3/Splat do not have Pitch Shifter nor V-Vocal ... yet have Melodyne Essential (which is just monophonic).

 
A lot of people don't realize Melodyne Essential can transpose polyphonic material, you just can't pitch correct individual notes. Use the Percussion mode; this article describes one possible application, transposing a strummed guitar part to create different chord progressions: http://www.guitarplayer.com/guitar-player-101/1025/tech-tips-rethinking-chord-progressions/49192
 
If you want to transpose an entire piece, you need to select the whole thing before proceeding as described above.
 
Also of course the Process > Transpose option in SONAR is of very high quality - far better than the pitch shifter plug-in - if you choose the Radius Mix algorithm. See my previous post if you want transposition that also changes duration, like old school tape-based transposition did.
 

Larry Jones
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.

As a general rule of thumb, any feature that requires a licensing fee is not going to be included in lite versions that are included for free. So I think your guess is probably correct.

Anderton

ShellstaX
Is it fair to say that X1 was better equipped in this regard?

 
Actually, no...keep reading  ...

 
Thanks Craig - more techniques for my trickbag,
 
In my initial Melodyne Essential test (with ambient pads) I had converted to Melodic, from Percussive, before transposing - doh!
Leaving it in percussive got acceptable results out to about 6 semitones before excessive mudiness crept in (which in turn could likely be cleaned up with additional tools).
 
Also, of course ;P :) ...
I was not aware aware of the the Process > Transpose
In my 2 years with the product I've mainly stuck to FX and obviously have not explored the menu options fully (nor read the manual fully).
Others likely know also ... but I had to convert the clip to non-groove before I could transpose (then converted it back).