I'm a nube on this board, but I've been recording at "Rock County Sound" since I started in the 80's with matched Tascam M32 and M38 using a sync track on channel 8 to control Cakewalk MIDI playback.

I have never been sorry that I had another arrow in my quiver.

I've used an older Antares, V-vocal, and T.C. Helicon (Still use VL3 in live single performance).

To me Melodyne is very intuitive, and very deep. Of course in the last two iterations of Sonar it is so closely integrated that you don't have to do the "recording of the track" thing that was described. You would never lose results without using a sledgehammer on your setup. wink

Opening up software like this for the first time is like being handed a guitar or a paint brush. Your first efforts are likely to be crap.

I'm a guy who at one time had to spend an hour editing five seconds of raw waveform, so don't go by me. Sometimes for a month I don't want to do anything but play my guitar and howl at the moon, so don't go by me. I get the different points of view. This thread expresses them well, but we can't know how well they apply to the OP, and that is the most important thing.

My advice would be "don't give up on Melodyne so soon. It can help with the specific issues that you described in your first post." One full day with one full pot of coffee could make you happier with your recordings for years to come.

This is a little like discussing cumin. Should we never use it in our recipes? Should we always? Is cardamom waaay better? I prefer to have access to the entire spice rack, but sometimes I think nothing could taste better than fresh peas eaten out of the pod on the front deck of a sailboat, with no land in sight.

De gustibus non disputandum est.