Thanks for the introduction to Melodyne

I agree Vanceen -  great post. In the past I was not a fan of limited function inclusions,  but Melodyne certainly proved that they have their place.  I upgraded to editor not long after I started using Melodyne,  and hardly hesitated at the upgrade to Studio recently.  I too thought at the time how glad I was that Cakewalk had included the basic version. 
 
The current ARA functionality is what made melodyne truly accessible.  As you say it will be exciting to see where that heads with tempo detection and multi track views. 
 
The value of limited function inclusions really comes down to the usefulness of the restricted product.  There are some limited versions,  like breverb or rematrix solo,  that have great mileage without any upgrades. It is also in the developers interest to give you enough functionality to want to upgrade.  Landr probably doesn't quite cross that line for me with its free offering of two low resolution files. 

I also upgraded to Editor.  However, I don't think people should call the Essentials a stripped down or limited version.  
 
The majority of users use it for things like vocal work, which is not polyphonic, etc.
 
It is also a version you can buy on its own, it isn't "Melodyne for Sonar,"  it is a full version that the company also sells.  It just isn't their most feature rich version.