Greg Schlaepfer is the founder of Orange Tree Samples, where he's spent seventeen years solving a strange problem: how do you take an instrument with six strings and two hands doing completely different things, and make it playable from a keyboard?
We talk about the magic trick that gave the company its name, why he pays royalties to every musician and engineer who works on a library, and what it actually costs to spend eleven years finishing a single project — three scrapped interfaces, several rounds of burnout, and 376 instruments later.
Along the way: chasing realism versus loving lo-fi sounds for what they are, why impressing people is the weakest way to move them, and what it means to be an artist on the days you feel like anything but.
🔗 ORANGE TREE SAMPLES LINKS
Website: https://www.orangetreesamples.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/orangetreesamples
X: https://x.com/OTsamples
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orangetreesamples/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orangetreesamples
Markus Junnikkala is a Composer from Finland.
https://www.markusjunnikkala.com/
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00:00) Night owls, kids and the creative sleep problem
(00:07:32) Filming your children, AI cameras and privacy
(00:18:24) Cargo bikes, thieves and California drivers
(00:30:36) Welcome: who is Greg Schlaepfer?
(00:33:42) Making a guitar playable from a keyboard
(00:42:54) Why "Orange Tree"? A magic trick from the 1800s
(00:55:45) Developers Greg admires, and conducting your DAW
(01:06:32) Brainwave MIDI, MiMU gloves and the VR that never arrived
(01:14:28) Are the tools good enough? Osmose, Seaboard and MPE
(01:23:28) Born in Austin: Greg's parents, teaching and music
(01:29:28) Recording from a keyboard, Breachway and game music
(01:34:51) Starcraft, Commander Keen and growing up with computers
(01:40:52) Siblings, kids young vs late, and piano as a family rule
(01:50:21) Almost quitting piano — and the keyboards that hooked him
(02:01:57) SoundFonts, dial-up and the free Ultimate Guitar Kit
(02:09:20) Chasing realism vs loving lo-fi sounds for what they are
(02:16:53) Hired at 17, a jazz piano degree, and no obvious path forward
(02:24:26) Kontakt 2 and founding Orange Tree Samples in 2008
(02:27:24) Scrappy forum marketing and self-promotion
(02:39:20) Royalties, ethics and why Greg won't be a CEO
(02:46:30) AI instruments, who gets paid, and the early Orange Tree years
(02:55:24) Breakthrough releases and 11 years of Latitude percussion
(03:06:23) Drums, room mics and great recording engineers
(03:13:02) What's next: modernising the engine, bespoke samplers and R&D
(03:22:54) Film and game scoring: ego, restraint and every note
(03:31:47) Greg's own music, and the instruments he still wants to sample
(03:38:47) What is an artist? Night work, curiosity and closing questions
(03:57:07) Wrap-up and where to find Orange Tree Samples
