Celemony Melodyne essential for 50 bucks. Worth it or not? Better, more versatile, and more user friendly than V-vocal?

What? No opinions! Am I in the Sonar Forum?

I don't know the difference in Essential v Assistant (I got Assistant for $150), but if you are getting Melodyne correction for $50, it is a great deal.  Absolutely take it.

I have both.  In fact, I started with Essential about a year ago and upgraded to Editor just recently.  I like them both for different reasons, and I probably use V-Vocal the most.  Often, when pitch correcting, I'm just a hair off here and there, so VV is quicker and sounds just as good, to my ears.  It's been integrated in Sonar since version 5, and I've never had problems with it as long as I work on short segments and bounce to clips when I'm done.

Melodyne is very handy for stretching and moving notes, and if your more than a hair off pitch then it may be the better way to go.  I still bounce to clips afterwards, though I've had several instances of Melodyne going at once.  Essential basically can do what VV can do as far as pitch and timing goes, but it lacks the formant control of VV and the ability to control the vibrato of a note.  

To sum it up, they're both very sophisticated programs that can perform small miracles.  $50 is an affordable way to get into the Melodyne family, and I got a special deal to upgrade to Editor for a very good price, so you may, too.  I've only needed to use the DNA technology of Editor twice, but I'm glad it was there when I needed it.  Most people here will probably tell you that Melodyne is the way to go, but you won't be crippled if you don't buy it.

Best of luck!

well, tell us where you're getting the deal... it's $99 on their site.

NEVER MIND... found it on Amazon.

Musicians Friend

You need to be aware that Melodyne Essentials is just that and I mean it has only essential functions. I got it free with Studio One V2 but have only just installed it. I was expecting it to do more but was a little disappointed to find it could not do some things. ie some editing tools are not provided.

You need to look at this to get a clearer picture of what the different versions do:

http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=383

You can still move notes up and down either to the nearest semitone or by small increments. But if want to draw what the pitch does over time within a note you cannot do that for example. Editor is the way to go but that costs another $300! But I see that Assistant is a step closer but still lacks all the editing options and only Editor can do the polyphonic editing if that is what you are after.

Overall it is better than VVocal though on most counts (but as it stands VVocal can do more things than Essential can) and it works rather brilliantly inside Studio One due to its ARA support. See here for more info on that.

http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=ara

It is still good to do and as Lynn has said just wait long enough and you will find the upgrade to Editor much cheaper at the right time.

Yeah this version of Melodyne doesn't include the DNA technology (Polyphonic note detection).  I have this love/hate relationship with Melodyne.  It lacks a draw tool which can be frustrating at times.  But every blue moon it gets me out of a serious bind.  Like others, I still use Vvocal at times- especially on musical content that contain glissandos- like a slide guitar.