"Vista dread" is real. In the ten months since the release of the Windows OS, Microsoft's expectations for XP to become obsolete have been frustrated in the audio realm. Caution reigns as changes to Vista the driver architecture have prompted thousands of users to adopt the age-old principle "if it ain't broke, don't upgrade it".

Vendors are no different, and have never been in a hurry to commit resources and dollars to leading-edge support of new OS technologies. Vista's sluggish adoption rate in audio has kept it in many places just that - leading-edge instead of mainstream.

Phonic, maker of USB and FireWire interfaces and mixers has jumped into the fray and included Vista drivers shipping with the new Firefly 808 interface. Quick features list:

• 8 microphone preamps w/ trim control and individual phantom power switches
• 8 analog line Inputs including 2 Instrument Inputs
• 8 channels of optical ADAT I/O (4 ch. via 96k dual SMUX)
• FireWire (IEEE 1394) audio interface
• 24-bit resolution, up to 192 kHz sampling rate
• 18 simultaneous inputs and outputs FireWire audio interface
• S/PDIF I/O, AES/EBU I/O, MIDI I/O and word clock I/O
• Headphone output and Main output with volume control for monitoring purpose
• Channel meters on channel 1 to 8 for input or output
• Synchronization, sampling rate, digit I/O and MIDI in/out indicators
• Dual FireWire ports for daisy chaining and direct connection to Mac or PC
• Stand-alone mixer functionality for field and studio use without computer
• Instrument input, pad switch, balanced TRS send jacks on Inputs 1 and 2
• Compatible with Windows XP and Mac OSX
• Steinberg Cubase LE DAW software included