Sounds like that dulcimer player needs to take at least half a day off...the day BEFORE the session...and tune the heck up;-)

Why are there no disparaging dulcimer player jokes?

Mike. if Cakewalk made varispeed available, Have you thought about what the quality of said varispeed would be?
Just cause they announce "Varispeed now available in X2.5, it ain't gonna make it useable most likely.
They gotta dangle the carrot for awhile while while they fix all the stuff that the varispeed engine mucked up.

There have been a number of occasions where I would have killed for varispeed. Yes, I could have used one of the work-arounds mentioned, but in the middle of a session with clients, I just can't interrupt the session to figure it out. Also, it means switching from an artistic head-space to a logical, technical head-space, which just kills the magic and the mood. This is the time that you just want to reach for a knob and tweak the speed.

Studio One has got a great pitch transposing algorithm. Any audio event on a track can be pitched up and down 2 octaves folks. Yes + 24 or - 24 semitones and it all sounds great so it can be done. And it is also very easily put back too with no side effects. You are NOT processing the audio in any way. Yes you get the chipmunk effect etc but that is what happens with tape too. It transposes much more than what Craig is suggesting in Sonar only being a semitone as useful. 

In this situation the timing remains the same but that is easily stretched too if you want it to be and it does that very well too. But in fact it is rather better to leave the timing alone and alter the pitch instead.

This is a far cry from all the complexity that Mike has started this thread with. It does not have to be that hard and it is not in Studio One. Just alter the transposition, do your thing, put it back and transpose the new track up or down to match the original pitch of the music. Simple as that.

Well here is a thought. If I use the scrub tool and drag it fast, it plays back fast. I f I drag it slow I can get that tape drag to a stop sound. So I think this would be something that Cake could do, because it already kind of does it. It's just not recordable.....yet.

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so how do dulcimer players play along with piano players in a live situation?  

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Why not grab this freebee pitch shifter vst:

http://freemusicsoftware.org/1037

or

http://www.rs-met.com/freebies.html

And drop it in a bus? :)