Thanks to everyone who responded.  I've been away all day and have the following answers to questions:
 
1.  Re: system specs, I'd have to look but it's pretty fast CPU, 16GB RAM
2.  MP3 to WAV conversion occurs very fast when importing
2a.  The first time I tried a straight WAV file it seemed Sonar had locked up since it had been 27 minutes with not even 75% conversion, but the computer light was running; the second time the WAV file took the same amount of time as using the mp3 conversion.
3.  The process in both Sonar and S1 is to either right-click in the clip and choose Melodyne, or CTL+M (no difference in speed of Melodyne)
4.  The test file was on the C Drive (Desktop) of a 7200 RPM high-quality drive
5.  Antivirus is on the machine (we 99% of the time is not connected to the 'net) -- azslow can you explain a little better how to exclude it for the purposes of using Melodyne, and I can then compare again?
 
Thanks again everyone.  
 
Steve

SMcNamara
4.  The test file was on the C Drive (Desktop) of a 7200 RPM high-quality drive
5.  Antivirus is on the machine (we 99% of the time is not connected to the 'net) -- azslow can you explain a little better how to exclude it for the purposes of using Melodyne, and I can then compare again?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028485/windows-10-add-an-exclusion-to-windows-defender-antivirus
 
Exact video for modern Win10 versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUDL4-XRMuY
The first links in Google about the topic show older Defenders.
 
Exclude all folders into which you write something with music creation software, so Sonar Projects folder, Melodyne cache folder, etc. Add SONARPLT.exe process.
 
 
 

If I compare Melodyne integration  in Sonar and in S1, I get the impression the approach the S1 guys took is not as tight. To enable this higher level of integration, the bakers may have needed to take steps which resulted in more processing in the background.
 
IIRC, Sonar would reliably crash if a clip hadn't been bounced (is this fixed?), whereas with the S1 approach, this concept of pre-bounced clips simply did not exist, meaning the issue never arose.
 
Edit: The audio quality of pre-bounced clips, e.g. with Audiosnap, is not as good as when bounced. This was however a great feature back when PCs were a lot less powerful. S1 is newer and probably the need for such an intermediate step never arose.

jpetersen
If I compare Melodyne integration  in Sonar and in S1...
IIRC, Sonar would reliably crash...
Edit: The audio quality of pre-bounced clips...

Worse 3 separate topics, but nothing related to OP observation

I've used melodyne a lot recently because I'm trying to really learn the fine details of things it can do. I've used it stand alone and integrated with sonar with single tracks, multi tracks, with all algorithms, and done just about everything you can do with it.
 
I have not noticed any difference in speed stand alone vs in sonar. I have a quad core I7-4810 processor, crucial m200 SSD, 32 gig ram, win 10 with all the latest updates. I have done the simple tests similar to above, doing tasks and timing the outcomes. Doing the same things stand alone vs sonar the results are always withing a few seconds of each other. 
 
I do not have S1, so all my work is stand alone vs sonar. 
 
gabo

azslow3
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028485/windows-10-add-an-exclusion-to-windows-defender-antivirus
 
Exact video for modern Win10 versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUDL4-XRMuY
The first links in Google about the topic show older Defenders.
 
Exclude all folders into which you write something with music creation software, so Sonar Projects folder, Melodyne cache folder, etc. Add SONARPLT.exe process.

Thanks very much for this, azslow.  I also have Webroot on the computer, and perhaps I need only start it right before the computer is connected to the internet since it appears exclusions are not currently allowed (and the Webroot staff are proud of that arrangement so I don't see a change anytime soon).
 
But as to your original comment to exclude certain folders, I assume this is general advice and does not help explain the significant time differences between Sonar and S1 -- correct? 
 
Oh, and where is the Melodyne cache???
 
Thanks,

I have made typos in my reply, and after editing the forum software block it...
Here is the text I have tried to post: http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,392.0.html