They might’ve succeeded in that, because we knew about the war, we heard the explosions, we saw it on TV, but we were never first-person actors in it. According to my parents, there were some rough times in that period (1990-1998), but we (my sister and myself) didn’t really feel it as such – they tried to provide us with as stress-free childhood as possible. Come 1993, we were located in Osijek (that’s the “capital” of the eastern part of Croatia, let’s say), I started going to elementary school. To cut the story short a bit, then the war came, we were exiled from our home, and there was no Casio to have around for quite some time. I had no idea about synthesis at a time, but those PD sounds were very fun to me, so I pushed away at it making all kinds of noises! This is another possibly key point in shaping my persona, when I look at things back from today’s perspective.
That might’ve been the key point, because come elementary school, I was pretty frantic about Queen and just about everything they did!īack to things that make sound when pushed – at one point (I think I might’ve been 3 or 4 years old), my dad got a Casio, I think it was a CZ-1, just for kicks (I forgot to mention, before he learned himself to play bisernica, he poked a bit of accordion, too). I was told my dad used to put headphones on my ears and play the hits of Beatles and Queen at the time to me, as early as me being one year old. That’s how those two hit it off! Sometime later, they had me. My father is a self-taught tamburica player ( ), playing bisernica, and he was playing in a local folk group, where my mother danced and sang. In a way, I’d say music got them together. Speaking of my parents, I guess that’s how it all started.
My parents had to keep all the remotes away from me. Let’s see … I wonder how far back do you want me to go on this one! As a kid, I was always fascinated by any and all things that made sounds when pressed – especially if they had pretty lights on them! So that would be my father’s stereo system, or a VCR controlled via remote (kinda cool – press a button and get that wheezy sound of the tape being rewound, I was entranced with that kind of thing), literally anything that had buttons on it. Mario Krušelj: First of all, hello to all readers of SoundBytes magazine from a very little and unremarkable town located on the very east of the small country that is Croatia (for the truly curious: ). SoundBytes Magazine: Tell us a bit about your early musical experiences. SoundBytes Magazine is pleased to present this in-depth interview with Mario in what follows. If you spend any time at all on the main music forums, you will almost certainly come across posts by EvilDragon, Mario’s internet alter-identity. He is also a prolific contributor to a number of music forums and is an invaluable member of the NI Kontakt forum, where he generously dispenses his deep knowledge of Kontakt development. He has provided the scripting for instruments from Hollow Sun, Hideaway Studio and Sonokinetic, to name just a few. Mario Krušelj has had his hands in any number of Kontakt sound libraries we’ve covered here in Points of Kontakt. If that name is not familiar to you, perhaps you know him as the prolific music-forum contributor, EvilDragon. SoundBytes talks at length with Kontakt scripting master, Mario Krušelj.