Pete Tong’s seal of approval holds a lot of weight amongst the dance music industry. Normally you'd hear him mentioned when he charts break through records or hosts his weekly Essential Mix, however this week he has given his stamp of quality to the Allen & Heath Xone VF-1 analogue stereo filter. He has installed two of the units for use in his London studio as well as the Pacha club in Ibiza for him to use during his summer residency at the venue.
Speaking about the hot piece of hardware he describes how it brings something extra to the table:"I'm always looking for ways of enhancing my live performance. I got into Allen & Heath's filters when using the Xone:92 mixer, so, as a dedicated unit for the job the VF-1 is the next level in sophisticated filtering. "The VF-1 enables me to effectively remix tracks live in a club. I particularly like using the unit with CD players, as you can hold a moment in the track and start to manipulate it - cutting out and phasing in the bass, middle or treble, or combining filters to have fun constructing something unique - it's a very useful tool if you want to start or end a track in a certain way,"
The Xone VF-1's circuitry is an enhanced version of the filters built into Xone mixers, offering three basic filter types, which can be combined to create further filter types. The VF-1 can interface with any mixer, has MIDI capability, and also contains a valve overdrive circuit, envelope follower, LFO, and resonance control. Those keen on connecting directly to the Turnables can opt for the the the RIAA preamp version - the Xone VF-1R.