I'm not sure if you realise this, but when you downgrade, your existing plugins from Professional will still be available for use in Artist. So it not really such a big step back. For that reason, CW might not give you a the sort of deal you might be expecting for the downgrade.

I think that's true only if he completed 12 months of payments or paid in full at the outset.

Bristol_Jonesey

35mm

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
If you are on Platinum there are some great plugins coming this month so stay tuned. By downgrading you will miss those :)

Hmmm sounds interesting!

That thought crossed my mind.

before or after you tried insulting helping the OP .
Your a good soul Jonesey
 
To the OP:
With that being said, I don't think Mettelus was trying to insult your intelligence.
Sometimes things just don't sound write in written words VS. voice/speech.
What im trying to say is.. I think everyone is trying to help. Jonesey definitely was by offering advise, an alternative.

 
Thank you Mr Jones. *I* knew I was trying to help but it would appear that some people simply don't like the advice they're given.
 

I'm not here to start an argument; your comments are opinion-based, and I'm sure you believe what you're saying so there's nothing to argue. However, I do want other users to be aware that there are other opinions on the subjects you mention which are quite different. My comments are in red.

• I don't do any vocal stuff, so melodyne essentials is completely useless to me [Melodyne isn't only for vocals. I use Melodyne Essentials to tune bass parts, guitar solos, do audio-to-MIDI conversion, transpose chords to create chord progressions when songwriting, do automatic tempo tracking with music not played to a click, create harmonies for single-note solos, and do envelope-controlled flanging.]
• The LP plugins are useless to me [As has been pointed out, these are specialized plug-ins. But if someone needs 20 EQ nodes to tame resonances, you can't do much better than the L-Phase EQ. Also, the L-Phase Compressor makes an awesome crossover for multi-band processing. The ability to choose between linear-phase and non-linear operation is very useful, but being able to assign individual nodes to stereo or mid-side processing is even more so.] 
• The Pro Channel Strip and the Style Dials is a nice idea and fun to play with but eventually I never used them again in a real project, almost no 3rd party plugin developers support them. Pure vendor lock. [Don't overlook being able to load FX Chains with any 3rd party plug-in in the ProChannel. Also, the four different responses in the QuadCurve are extremely useful but that requires spending time to really learn them. As to the flyout, although I have Platinum, I never use it...I just vary the knobs to get the sound I want, after choosing the curve that's most appropriate for the material. I highly recommend people A/B blind-test the QuadCurve against far more costly EQs, and then make their own evaluations.] 
• Most instruments are dated and not very good, mostly because they are like light versions neither give you many options to get creative nor come with an extensive amount of presets [FWIW Z3TA is supposed to sound "dated," it's emulating analog synths that are over 50 years old. It also makes a great multieffects and has over 750 presets; PSYNE 2 has over 550 presets. Those seem like a considerable amount of presets.] 
• Other plugins ain't much better than freeware or really really old [I don't think age matters if the results are novel. Several of the Sonitus plug-ins have functionality that remains unequalled by newer plug-ins.]

 

I've had to learn to keep to myself when I see users doing strange arse backwards engineering. It's what you get now because we can plunk a total uneducated person in front of all these possessors and they have no clue how to use them. Whatever, as long as I don't have to listen to the end results I don't care what people do with all those compressors and EQ's.
The OP may or may not understand processing and may or may not have a background in engineering.
Most of us old farts still use these tools the same way we used hardware. We would not have had 20x  $1,500 multiband processors in our rack.

AndertonMelodyne isn't only for vocals. I use Melodyne Essentials to tune bass parts, guitar solos, do audio-to-MIDI conversion, transpose chords to create chord progressions when songwriting, do automatic tempo tracking with music not played to a click, create harmonies for single-note solos, and do envelope-controlled flanging.

 
You made me look, and I'm glad you did. I figured if you're doing all that with Melodyne Essential that you had produced some content on it, and I found a few things from the past few years on the Cakewalk blog and some other publications. This looks like a good collection of tips with all but 3 applicable to Essential.
 
http://www.emusician.com/mixing/1397/how-to-10-methods-of-melodyne-madness/55307
 
You got any other links to drop on us?
 
 

Anderton
FWIW Z3TA is supposed to sound "dated," it's emulating analog synths that are over 50 years old. It also makes a great multieffects and has over 750 presets; PSYNE 2 has over 550 presets. Those seem like a considerable amount of presets.

I was looking through my "archives" just yesterday and noticed I have a ton of 3rd party presets for the original Z3TA+ that aren't installed. I know you're not a preset guy, but I'm torn. On the one hand, I like to be able to quickly cycle through presets when looking for a sound, but on the other, having too many feels overwhelming -- particularly when they're not well organized. First world problem, for sure.
 
While we're on the subject... What was the purpose of your presets thread? Research?

 
Inquiring minds want to know...

telecharge
While we're on the subject... What was the purpose of your presets thread? Research?

Yes. Creating quality presets takes a lot of time (at least it does for me). I'd been toying with the idea of creating more presets for the processors that come with SONAR in case people mostly used presets, but didn't want to waste time on something that wasn't needed.
 
My takeaway from the thread was that those who use presets often consider them as a point of departure from which they can do additional tweaking. So if I was to do presets, it would be more useful to create (for example) a fairly general-purpose "Acoustic Guitar" preset as opposed to a "Gibson J-45" preset. 
 
I did get the impression that people appreciate good presets, and that it was worth making some of my presets available. You'll see the results of that decision concurrent with the next SONAR update.

telecharge
You got any other [Melodyne] links to drop on us?

 
"The Big Book of SONAR Tips" has a bunch of applications. Some of them are in the article you cited, but presented in more detail.
 
Chapter 5: Melodyne
 

• Create Vocal Harmonies with Melodyne Essential
• Easy Automatic Double Tracking (ADT) with Melodyne Essential    
• Create Chord Progressions with Melodyne Essential          
• The Secret Melodyne Essential LFO Vibrato Tool  
• Tweaking Vibrato with Melodyne Essential            
• The Melodyne Essential Envelope-Following Flanger          
• Make Your Electric Bass Hugely Big

You ask some good questions there Telecharge, I'd consider starting a new thread for it, rather than go completely OT on this one