I was chugging happily along with X3 Studio until I found out about Transposing and Formant Scaling. It turns out, that's supposedly a feature only available in X3 Producer.   That compelled me to pay the $149 upgrade price>   had to buy it  not later that  today 22 May 2014.  
 
I am probably doing something wrong but Formant Scaling "don't work no good". In fact I can't make it work at all! Whats is the wisdom of the forum folks (or Cakewalk folks) have to say about this problem.  
 
As I have been seeking a solution I find that others have had similar problems and have skirted the problem by using something called V-Vocal whatever that is!

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, formant scaling is grayed out. My memory is a bit hazy on older Sonar versions but I think this might be a leftover from the MPEX pitch transposition algorithm which IIRC was licensed from Prosoniq, but worked only in 32-bit versions. The current algorithm that's compatible with 64-bit systems was licensed from iZotope. Transposition should work fine; I use it all the time. But it seems formant scaling may have gotten lost somewhere along the line.
 
You can use V-Vocal to do formant changes. That was included in X1 and X2, but dropped from X3 when Melodyne came into the picture.
 
If you bought the upgrade specifically to do formant changes and Sonar X3 can't do it despite the feature appearing to exist and being mentioned online, I would suggest contacting Cakewalk and explaining the situation. I doubt they would want you to pay for a feature which you believed existed, but which apparently does not. OTOH if there is a way to wake up formant transposition and not have it grayed out, I'm definitely interested in a solution myself.
 

Are you a new Sonar user or did you own previous versions (like X1/X2)? If you own a previous version I believe you can yank V-Vocal from those versions using the Custom Install feature then scan for it in X3.
 
I am not certain though. I think I saw it in my list of effects but I installed X3 over top of X2 and X1.
 
And what the heck is "formant scaling"? The googles do nothing.

There is a formant tool in melodyne at least in the editor version. Melodyne is generally the way to go not vvocal which is on the way out.

Yes it melodyne you want, but you will have to upgrade from the version included in x3 to get any benefit, but it will do all you want, well worth it a must have tool and any audio you open up in melodyne can be dragged to a midi track as midi, in polyphonic and melody and drum, this alone is a deal clincher.

No question you can use V-Vocal or Melodyne (or even the Loop Construction window) to change formants, but I think the OP is referring to the formant option that's listed in the Transpose dialog box but is grayed out. It makes sense to want to have formant control be part of transposition.

CakeAlexSThere is a formant tool in melodyne at least in the editor version...

 

Subjacent...Yes it melodyne you want, but you will have to upgrade from the version included in x3 to get any benefit...

Since "upgrading" to X3, I've I've only used Melodyne once now to do a quick shift of some notes - But I haven't even looked around at the interface for a formant shift.  

Are you guys saying the light version doesn't have a formant tool like V-Vocal does--?

---I need to point out that Cpkoch upgraded to X3 Producer because he thought there was a formant editor he'd be getting.  Now the advice to him is to pay a few hundred more to get the full Melodyne?

Hopefully, Cpkoch, you did have an earlier version of Sonar, so that V-Vocal is available to you - in which case it would just be something you hadn't noticed.  But your post makes me think that X3 Studio may have been your first Cakewalk purchase, in which case, you won't have V-Vocal since it was replaced by Melodyne when Cakewalk switched companies they're doing pitch-shifting business with.

But - Formant editing with V-Vocal was/is extremely helpful.  If a vocal note has been shifted beyond 1/2 step in either direction, the formant has to be shifted at least a little bit in the opposite direction i.e. a pitch is pushed higher, then the formant has to be brought down to compensate.  V-Vocal is a very good tool for that.  Time shifting is also available and very capable on its separate tab in the GUI.

I rarely need any of those kinds of tools, so since getting X3, I've only done a couple of tiny shifting edits, once using V-vocal out of habit, once using Melodyne  - I haven't really explored this light Melodyne.  So, I don't know  - Are you guys saying it doesn't it have a formant tool, or a time editing tool like V-Vocal?

Randy

Anderton
No question you can use V-Vocal or Melodyne (or even the Loop Construction window) to change formants, but I think the OP is referring to the formant option that's listed in the Transpose dialog box but is grayed out. It makes sense to want to have formant control be part of transposition.

So the option you used in the X1 Advanced vids to turn your hex pickup guitar tracks into a virtual 12 string? And it no longer works?
 
That is a little... uh, hate to say it... crummy. Even if it's based on 32bit they could have left it in and instead maybe put a popup warning saying it might cause problems. I know Cake is trying to avoid people having glitches/crashes by stripping out 32bit stuff but some of those things are really useful and did work more often than not. Like VC-64 thingie.
 
Maybe next release they could provide a custom install option to access some of those old tools even if they are newer alternatives available. Then it's buyer beware.
 
Meh...

i dont usually have call to use formant scaling, but I have transpose hot-keyed to perform quick pitch shifts and have definitely notice that more often than not it is greyed out regardless of which algorithm i select. i will check it out later today. 

Here's a Melodyne Editor tutorial I recommend if you have an editor, yes it costs $15.
http://www.groove3.com/str/melodyne-explained.html
 
Free ones on Celomony's site as well.
 
Only way to get the best value for your investment IMHO, a lot of the features you will never use unless you find out about them. Most people don't know what they are missing. It's not something you will stumble into accidently.