Hi,
I am using Melodyne to transpose long pad sounds. It is working, but the performance is really bad: My machine starts with a CPU utilization of nearly 100%, then after alf a minute it drops to 40%, then to 20%. First I thought it is a thermal problem of the hardware, but the CPU speed is not reduced.
If I switch to a different Melodyne-track the user interface is freezed for 15 minutes of more. SONAR is busy (Task Manager information).
I tried to produce additional load to the computer via a virtual machine in order to check, if the issue is hardware-related. I can easily calculate fractals with 70+% cpu load for an hour without any problem while SONAR is running in parallel.
I hope it is a configuration issue. Does anyone has an idea how I can optimize the utilization?
 
PS: I set the asio buffer to 1024 - no effect. The pad tracks are about an hour long @24bit...
 

after editing Melodyne using Region FX I always bounce down my edits "Bounce to clips".
this frees them of recourses and issue to do with Melodyne clips freezing Sonar. 

+^
I'm, not sure. but I get the impression you use Melodyne as a permanent effect in a project/for tracks that are one hour long.
If that is the case, it is,IMO, begging for trouble. Melodyne is so much more than a basic transposer, that it's far, far too heavy for such use. I'm with Chuckebaby (and many others): Always bounce Melodyne track when you've finished
editing. Do not leave active Melodyne in the project.

vdd
 
PS: I set the asio buffer to 1024 - no effect. The pad tracks are about an hour long @24bit...

that may just be the length of the tracks causing it. you can quickly test that by splitting off the first minute and see if it does it really quickly, then it's not a system problem but just too much data to analyse ...

Totally agree with the above.  I find it best to process tracks with Melodyne one fairly short section at a time, then bounce to track after each one.  (Of course save your original files so you can go back to undo if you realize you screwed up several dozen changes ago.) If my talent is decent, I only need it on a few sections anyway.   If it is a whole track that needs intonation correction, I just plug in Autotune.  While I prefer fine surgery with Melodyne. if the patient is close to dead anyway, I just use Autotune.

There are other, more efficient ways to transpose audio than using Melodyne.

I feel Melodyne gets a bad rap some times because people believe it is a fix all tool.
maybe it is a fix all tool. but I have never looked at Melodyne as something I would use on a whole track.
Contrary, if I do need to use it on a whole track, I would chop up those sections in to something smaller and more manageable/reasonable to work with, then bounce them out using Region FX.
There are some great comments above that I just read. I agree with all of you.
 
 

OK, I should remove the questionmark: I am using it the wrong way!
I know that I can do the task with Melodyne, so I never checked another way.
How do you pitch-shifting long audio files in SONAR? The scenario is:

• I recorded an analog synth for more than an hour.
• Now I want to create fifth, seventh etc without recording new tracks.

Thanks!

One way:
 
Select the clip, choose Process > Transpose
 

1. Enter the amount, in semitones
2. Tick Transpose Audio
3. Choose a type: Radius Solo should work for this

OK, that was way to easy! I did not see the transpose function, because I looked at the wrong menu. 
It works like a charm and is really fast.