So I have been a Cakewalk user since PA8 and a "producer" level buyer/upgrader/user since Producer 6.  It seems like in the old days part of the bonus to buying producer was that you got plugs/instruments that no other version got and they were full versions, none of these "demo" feeling or limited plugs and instruments.  With X2 I suddenly felt like I was paying a ton of money extra for "limited" software versions designed to part me with another $100+ in order to actually utilize the useful features. (Overloud stuff, prochannel add ons etc.)  How is X3 in this regard?  It looks like it is getting worse.  It looks like AD is the real deal but how about the AAS stuff, Melodyne?  (Melodyne seems to be the worst for the ole bait and switch from how it reads).  It almost feels like Sonar has become a free to play video game that sets it up to get you money on the back end if you actually want to play the game.  I have spent many $1000s of dollars riding the Cakewalk upgrade train and now as I try to consider going to X3 this just feels like something is trying to violate me.

Melodyne is an amazing tool.
 
Lounge Lizard is fantastic.
 
Pro Channel is superb, the new quad EQ is sublime.

I updated Melodyne to the full version after playing with it for a while, so I know both.
 
When I want to try to pick a guitar part out of a CD, I will definitely turn to Melodyne and use features from the Editor version.
 
That said, I don't expect I'll do much of that. I did play with trying to do pitch adjusting on a vocal where there was tons of bleed between the microphones. I ended up not doing it. The bleed and my skill with Melodyne made it so I didn't like the end result. That said, I've never been able to adjust vocal pitch when recorded in a performance setting without random artifacts.
 
If you have a vocal track recorded with isolation it would be really helpful (Essential Version which comes with Sonar would do the trick). The Essential version that comes with Sonar has the features I'd be most likely to use on a recording I cared about. The multi tone thing is more of a toy for me at this stage.
 
I think Melodyne is actually a pretty great perk to throw us while expanding Sonar to handle a new type of plugin. So they are positioning themselves for the future plugins and giving us something pretty great to get us to fund this new development.
 
This is an example of Melodyne trying to pick out all the notes in a stereo recording...
 
I just got some new Zeta2 stuff so I made this goofy recording of How High the Moon...
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/20131108_HowHighTheMoon.wav.mp3
 
Then, I bounced it down...
 
Now the midi looks like this...

 
And this is what Melodyne Editor Created on the bounced track...
 

 
You can see you could easily pick out the key, but it wouldn't be so simple to translate this back to the original midi.
 

In addition to the included content Cake has made many core fixes to X3. The upgrade price for me is money well spent and then some. Especially when considering X3 includes the full version of ADD. That alone to me is worth it.

I don't know about it being worse. I have bought every upgrade from Sonar 1 XL to X3 Producer. I have never felt cheated by CW on the included plugins. Dim Pro was included as an LE version for years and I  was happy to have it. Pantheon was not the full version but again I liked it as it was. I don't look at the plugins made by third party developers as cut down but rather meant exclusively for Sonar. Now the big deal in X3 is its ARA embedding and the Melodyne essential as being thrown in for free to get us started with ARA.  It also works with V-Vocal.
 
Overall X3 provides more useful stuff then any past version. This is from a guy that has BFD3 and really has no need for AD. 
 
To each their own. 
 
 

The price of the different features is way more than what you pay for X3. Melodyne,Full version of Adictive Drums, VST3, ARA,19 Blue Tube plugins,Lounge Lizard, plus all the work Cake has done with adding color, etc,etc,etc.
There are a few bugs still in the system,but where are there not bugs in whatever software you buy? As far as value for money, you cant get any better than X3. This is my opinion, Not to be forced on to anyone.
 
Danny

If you can't tell, I totally think X3 is worth the $.
 
I tried to address whether your should upgrade Melodyne from Essential to Editor -- a choice I also made.

The upgrade price for X3 is well worth it.  X3 is a solid DAW that I wish I had in 2001.  But if I had X3 then, how could I have run it?  I started with PA on DOS 4.0 in 1988.  The evolution of software and hardware has been an amazing ride.
 
As far as the add-ins go, I consider them the icing on the Cake! 

I think the only "bait and switch" that comes with X3 is Melodyne, but that is not a complaint - or a bad thing. To secure a full version of Melodyne it would have drove the cost of X3 up quite a bit (that's a pretty expensive piece of software) and that would not have been fair to those that already own Melodyne. The basic version you do get is quite usable, and sounds great (imo - far better sounding than v-vocal, but that's a different discussion).
 
X3 Producer is worth it's cost for the extra's you get. 
 
What I really like is that the lighter versions of X3 keep the core functions (64 bit, unlimited tracks and busses, full vst support, ARA support, etc...). They are only stripping the extras out of those. Now you only need producer if you want all the 3rd party extras included.

Well stick with what you have then.......others will enjoy the great program that X3 is! It is well worth it and one day I will upgrade!