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Simple Pitch Modulation
An easy tip to add variations to your main melody with a song is to modulate the pitch of the sound by increments of an octave. This simple technique can add movement to your music without doing much at all. It's also very helpful if you're not a fluent keyboard player.
By modulating the pitch by intervals of an octave your melodies will always remain in the same key as opposed to modulating the pitch to other intervals. The example in this video uses an Ensoniq ASR X Drum Machine/Sampler but most Synthesizers or Samplers can be used for this application.
In addition you can modulate the pitch via midi with a standard modulation device e.g. (foot pedal modulation/pitch bend wheel etc.)
How to do this:
Most samplers and synthesizer have a pitch control section where the pitch of a waveform can be altered. This section will usually allow you to change the pitch of a sound in three basic ways.
1. By the octave (12 semitones or 1200 cents)
2. By semi-tones (1/12th of an octave or 100 cents)
3. By cents (2 1/1200th of an octave)
Now choosing to alter the pitch by an octave during your musical performance (whether live or pre-programmed) will vary your main melody easily within the same key.
Therapeutic & Psycho acoustical Benefits
This is perceived as a sense of movement by the human ear and is understood as positive stimulation by the human brain. In short your listeners will always find this trick interesting as it causes the listener to actively and easily follow the playful movement of your music. This type of stimulation can has a similar effect on the brain as watching an interesting visual or feeling stimulating touch."
