After correcting a lead vocal line the other day, another local audio engineer (without knowing that I'd pitch-corrected it or what I'd used for the job) said it now has "a Melodyne-ish pitch issue in some parts."
 
I didn't correct any notes by more than two or three half-steps and I bounced to a new track after correction so that, I assume, the behind-the-scenes Melodyne engine would give me the best possible results.
 
So, I have two questions:
1) Did this happen because I've been heavy-handed with Melodyne or I need to study it more to use it properly?
Or
2) Have I run into the limitations of Melodyne?
 
[EDIT]
Actually, a third question:
 
3) Would Melodyne Editor, AudioSnap or V-Vocal have produced fewer artifacts? If so, which one is best for pitch/time correction of vocals?
 

It would be hard to tell without using our ears.

IMO three semitones in vocal correction is not correction anymore, it's either composing or making harmonies :o)
 
I don't know how much better the new Melodyne is than the Plugin version I'm using, but when I've tried to edit the pitch (two or) three semitones I'm forced to edit the formant as well and I find it really hard to keep the result natural. It works quite well in background vocals, but in lead vocal it can inevitably be heard (with my Melodyne-ing skills).
Changing instrument pitch is easier, because human ear is so overly sensitive to the details of human voice.

When moving that far, best results will be achieved by moving only the vowels.  Moving the consonants will create artifacts.

Here is my take on using any pitch correction software. A C note on any instrument, including voice, has a fundamental frequency and added frequencies called partials, sometimes called harmonics. These partials each have different frequencies and volumes. A D note with have a different fundamental frequency, partials and volumes. Thus when you use pitch correction to change a C note to a D note you are also changing C partials to D partials BUT these partials and volumes will not be the same as a natural D note. Thus a C moved to a D will not sound identical to a natural D.
 
Like Kalie posted this may work ok on back ground vocals but not on lead vocals.
 
If I am incorrect on this then someone please let me know – thanx.

Kalle Rantaaho
IMO three semitones in vocal correction is not correction anymore, it's either composing or making harmonies :o)
 
I don't know how much better the new Melodyne is than the Plugin version I'm using, but when I've tried to edit the pitch (two or) three semitones I'm forced to edit the formant as well and I find it really hard to keep the result natural. It works quite well in background vocals, but in lead vocal it can inevitably be heard (with my Melodyne-ing skills).
Changing instrument pitch is easier, because human ear is so overly sensitive to the details of human voice.

+1 to all of that ...
 
radical melodyne (i.e. more than a few cent!) is good for composing, exploring different vox lines or showing the vocalist where he ought to be aiming at ...
 
lead vocals need to be good and natural - which you will only get with a good performance i.e. record until you nail it and go with the best takes ... minimal corrections only where needed ...
 
backing vox can take a lot of fixing because they just support the lead line and (if mixed properly) blend into the rest of the sonic picture ... and they should not attract attention by being out of tune ...
 
IMHO there is too much fixing going on these days ... listen to some of tracks from the 90s and before; there are some awefully out of tune vocals by great bands, yet the songs sound great cause they feel real ...
 
 

Those are usually called formants or harmonics. Melodyne (the full version) lets you adapt formants independently to get a more natural sound. Use the formant tool.
 
I'm with what most of the others said; shifting by that much isn't really pitch correction anymore. Moving just vowels will get you a more natural effect, and experiment with shifting the formants in opposite direction to the fundamental pitch shift. Editing transitions between notes may also help, and don't edit out all the vibrato or pitch drift.
 
V-Vocal in my humble opinion will be mostly worse unless you're a wizard with it. Audiosnap doesn't really do what you want as far as I know.

^^^^
Pitch alone usually won't cut it when you're moving vocal blobs that far.
 

MarioD
Here is my take on using any pitch correction software. A C note on any instrument, including voice, has a fundamental frequency and added frequencies called partials, sometimes called harmonics. These partials each have different frequencies and volumes. A D note with have a different fundamental frequency, partials and volumes. Thus when you use pitch correction to change a C note to a D note you are also changing C partials to D partials BUT these partials and volumes will not be the same as a natural D note. Thus a C moved to a D will not sound identical to a natural D.
 
Like Kalie posted this may work ok on back ground vocals but not on lead vocals.
 
If I am incorrect on this then someone please let me know – thanx.

As Sanderxpander mentioned, this is what formant correction is supposed to do.
 
Imagine playing one note on an acoustic guitar. If you now play a different note on that same guitar, then it isn't simply a pitch shift of all frequencies. Instead, the natural resonances of the guitar is still exactly the same, although the new pitch will excite those natural resonances in different intensities. The resonances of the guitar gives it its unique "character". The same thing applies to vocals. Your vocal chords have certain resonances that give you your vocal signature, and naively changing the pitch of those complex resonances will immediately change the character of the voice and make it sound unnatural.
 
So the problem facing pitch correction software is to alter the pitch while preserving this "character" of the sound. This involves analyzing the signal and determining which frequencies are part of the "character" and which are part of the specific "pitch" (or the musical note). The signal is then re-generated with the "character" frequencies at the original frequencies (but maybe altered intensities) while the "pitch" frequencies are adjusted to the new desired pitch. This process is called formant correction.
 
I've done enough of my own pitch detection DSP research and experimentation to know that this is a complex process and my hat is off to any pitch correction software that can do this in a transparent way. Just don't expect realistic results from more than a few half steps though since your own voice will have a different character if you sing notes at significantly different pitches.

Yep....To get a transparent melodyne solution, you have to be very careful.
 
As you move further from the original pitch, the formants also need to change to keep it sounding as natural as possible. The further you are moving the note the more details must be adhered to in order to get acceptable results.
 
If you need to move a note one, to one and a half whole steps, you probably should record it again rather than trying to fix it with melodyne. I certainly would hit the punch in button.  You want a track that is as close to perfect as possible (pitch wise) before you start pitch correcting. That way, the moves are less then a half step and even a rushed ME job on that will often turn out totally transparent. 
 
Of course, if the singer isn't available anymore..... and this has happened to me..... I used ME to create a vocal harmony track.... and I kept the harmony vocals low in the mix so you hear the harmony but the artifacts are harder to hear.... http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12024980     Melodyned harmony vox on the prechorus and chorus.
Melodyne Editor is a good tool for doing pitch correction. I have it and use it on all my vocal tracks and some instrument tracks as well. My goal is NO ARTIFACTS. If, as I'm working, I introduce an artifact, I undo and go back to the original and work with more care. I find it useful to sometimes split notes up into smaller sections and pitch correct sections individually. Slurs are also troublesome where the  singer bends a note.... and I find that is often where I get the robotic auto tuned or un-natural sound. 
 
Also... NEVER use the automatic mode. If the track is worth pitch correcting, it's worth taking the time to do it manually. Manual takes longer but yields better results.