;D ;D ;D the storm is over: i don t really know what happened in my friend s house for it not to work, he said he tried it on a usb sound card and on a mixer desk, but i know now that it didn t work when i got it back cause i plugged it in my linux machine usb soundcard which is an old usb1.1 and can t supply enough juice for the Phantom Power.. anyway, whatever, just a coincidence .. now it works again, hurray for Australia s techs Simone