Lots and lots of folks I know praise Melodyne.
I use Auto Tune as my go to editing device
....I'm glad X3 will still access v-Vocal as I like to use it once in a while

I'll be another one to chime in here for Melodyne.  I have Melodyne Editor...and in my opinion, it is by far superior to V-vocal for any manipulation that I would ever want to do.  And with it being polyphonic...you can fix a single note in a chord.  It's quite amazing actually.
 
And the vibrato is a cinch to use.  I usually use it to pull excess vibrato out of vocals.

Here are some videos on the Celemony website.  Might give some helpful tips as to what can be done.
 
http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=videos

jrop
 what would you all recommend: Melodyne, Autotune, or even perhaps something different?

The ARA integration would seem to give Melodyne a big advantage. Haven't used Autotune since probably 2003

Sanderxpander
they really should've included the Assistant version instead of the Essential one.

This is marketing.  Neither Cakewalk nor Celemony are in the business of giving stuff away for free.  They aren't charities.  These aren't open source projects.  I don't know what the agreement is between the two companies, but Celemony undoubtedly agreed to license Essential for little or no money in order to get access to some of SONAR's user base.  That only works if a significant percentage of users buy the upgrade to Assistant or Editor.  I'm on the fence.  In reality, Essential will do almost everything I really need to do, but after doing the 30-day trial of Editor, I really miss the pieces that are not part of Essential.  So I have to make a decision whether to put my money on a hardware upgrade, upgrade Melodyne, or save that money for Finale 2014, which will be out in a few weeks.

In my opinion - Autotune vs Melodyne is just a matter of preference. They are both great tools, although you need to learn how to use them to get the most out of them. V-Vocal simply does not sound nearly as good. When I do these types of adjustments, why would I want the sound altered? For that reason v-vocal only has limited use on my recordings.
 
With ARA integration in X3, Melodyne is the route I suggest. You can always upgrade the version if you need more features.
As for V-Vocal, even if it is not included with X3, you can still install it from an earlier version of Sonar and it should work fine.

I have Melodyne Editor. (ME)
 
I considered all 3 of the big players .... Autotune, V-Vocal and Melodyne. I did my research and opted to buy ME.
 
My decision was based on the need to fix vocals and other instrument tracks as transparently as possible and leave NO evidence or artifacts behind.
 
ME allows this.  I used to take the easy way out and use the automatic correction in ME. While ME has an "auto correct" function and makes the process fairly quick and painless, the best results are obtainable with manual correction. Yes, it does take longer to go through a vocal track and correct pitch and drift and split notes and make the changes needed manually......however, the result is well worth the time you have to spend. Once you learn the features and how to use them correctly, this manual process goes fairly quick.
 
Too much vibrato in a note... or not enough? ME can fix that.
Note starts flat and slides up or opposite that? ME can fix that.
Note timing is wrong, or starts or ends early/late?  ME can fix that.
One wrong note in a chord? ME can fix that.
Need to move a note only a couple of cents? ME can fix that.
 
And it does it all without leaving artifacts in the music to tell you it was there. ME is quite the program. The functions I use are pretty simple and straightforward. When I watch the video's on the Celemony website, I realize that I am, quite literally, only "scratching the surface" of what this program can actually do.
 
 
 
 

Well, it's sounding like Melodyne can do what I want it to, but it really looks clunky on the user-interface side of things when I compare it to V-Vocal...maybe that's just me.  It really looks like Autotune 7's graphic mode does what I want, but I really don't want to shell out $400.  Any AT users want to chime in on this?
 
I'd really like to hear from all sides before making a decision.
 
@musec03 want to elaborate on your experience any?
 
@drummaman agreed.  I really wish roland would keep developing this great tool...maybe focus on making it sound better.  The interface was really rock-solid and easy to use/figure out.  (and besides, I have a lot of projects that use it).  I think being able to change a note in a chord is really amazing--and kudos to Melodyne for that--but I just haven't needed that kind of functionality in the kind of music I work on.  I'm just a hobbyist who can't sing on pitch consistently enough who wants a simple tool so that my listeners aren't cringing whenever I start singing (and maybe they do anyway--pitch correction or not).

I always had the opposite experience - V-Vocal always seemed to have a terrible user interface to me, after using Melodyne :)
But you're right, you should go with what fits your workflow best and look at it from all sides.

@Sanderxpander That's a good point: each person has a workflow they operate most efficiently with, and that's the one you should stick with...that's one reason I haven't switched to Cubase/etc.  Sonar feels like "home" :) (and in this case, so does V-Vocal).