The ups:
It is rock solid
It comes with a lot of new softsynths and effects.
Melodyne can be used as an VST3 ARA plugin.
Very good for MIDI and audio tracks.
Number of tracks limited only by your system.
Many other features.

The downs:
Can have a steep learning curve for a novice.
Only fair for notation.
Melodyne Essential will only work with monophonic tracks.

Since you have been using MIDI for a long time I will assume that you are familiar with DAWs so the learning curve may not be that steep.

Yes Melodyne Essential can very easily convert audio to MIDI while keeping the audio track. Drag the monophonic audio track or clip to the time line and it will generate a new MIDI track containing the notes in the audio track. You may have to do a little editing. I have tried a number of audio to MIDI converters and Melodyne does the best job. The more expensive Melodyne programs allow polyphonic editing.
You can correct pitch and timing with Melodyne.

If you have any questions just send me a PM.

I hope this helps.

Last edited by MarioD; 02/17/17 10:02 AM.
I want my last spoken words to be "I hid a million dollars under the........................"

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware