Real Time Click Repair MiniPC Setup

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by krisbee, Jul 16, 2016.

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  1. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I just wanted to share a project I have been working on using the ClickRepairRT program... It is a real time click repair setup that is always running in my system, requiring no interaction. Note, still playing around with the settings, so the audio samples I used are just a reflection of what I used that moment.

     
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  2. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    So, nobody is interested in this I guess? I thought it was kinda cool...
     
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  3. BuddhaBob

    BuddhaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Erie, PA, USA
    It is pretty cool. I have been thinking about doing something similar. ClickRepair works amazingly well.
     
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  4. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I just watched your video and I like what you're going for. Just last night my wife and I were listening to some vinyl and one of the records that I played was an old Andre Kostelanetz Columbia 6-eye, of Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite", which I recently bought for a buck, because it looked pretty decent visually. Needless to say, it was snap, crackle and pop and it ended up a frustrating listen, especially following a spin of the brand new Allen Toussaint "American Tunes" LP, which was quiet as a mouse.

    I saw no link, which you claimed to provide at the end of your video and to make it easier to see just how much I have to invest to get where you are, could you list out "all" of the needed pieces, as you mentioned a slew of them, along with their approximate prices?

    Novel idea and one that I may end up investing in.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Chris
     
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  5. Robert C

    Robert C Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Cool idea!
     
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  6. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I put down all the steps in the dropbox link in the description on what I programmed in and how/why, but I should put a second document there with the equipment and amazon links, for sure. I will do that this weekend.

    However, let's do it here:
    Gigabyte 2800 minipc $120
    16 gb ssd: $25
    M2 ssd to 2.5 sata adapter: $8
    4gb Ram: $15
    5.1 USB soundcard: $15
    ClickRepair software: $40

    Grand total: $223
     
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  7. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Oh, and if you already have a laptop, you can just buy the soundcard and test it out to see if it is really worth buying/building for your setup. Thats what made me finally say, Im doing this!
     
    Tim Müller likes this.
  8. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    That is one of the things you could do with this SweetVinyl Sugarcube...though I imagine for a lot more money than the OP's solution.
     
    Tim Müller likes this.
  9. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    It was the Fremer video of this product, and when I saw the price tag, I remembered that the program I already owned had a real time component, and thought I could do that cheaper :)
     
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  10. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Thank you!
     
  11. n8great321

    n8great321 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Alabama
    Always enjoy the videos from Dixieland Farms! Seems like a fun proof of concept, even if you don't use it for everyday listening.
     
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  12. chris lowe

    chris lowe New Member

    Location:
    uk
    Hi, New member here- recently got hold of a copy of clickrepair, the trial 20-day version. Have a large classical collection of LP's.
    This is some neat software, does the job very well. I was thinking would be good if it ran realtime.
    Then I found this forum and here is krisbee, already well on with this. Nice coincidence.
    I would appreciate some details about how this is done and what hardware is required and how it is cabled up.
    Did you get a copy of the original Java program and modify it? Lots of questions, but this is enough for now.
    Would ideally like to give this a go if possible.
    My kit is a Dual 505-2 deck with Shure V15 type 2 cartridge. This has a very low output
    I use a pre-amp phono box by Behringer to feed direct into laptop mic input. Not using the amp at all, Cambridge A1 for recording.
    All files saved as 32bit Wave
    All editing is done in Audacity then into Clickrepair using default LP setting (50). Then burn CD.
    Getting some impressive results and the music is not (apparently) compromised.
    Any comments on the above or other advice welcome.
    Chris
     
  13. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    The software is included with Clickrepair.... Its called ClickrepairRT. Any computer should handle the job, including a laptop. If you want to get fancy like I did with the autostart, dedicated machine, I left notes on how I did it on the dropbox link in the comments of the video. The worse the record, the better the processor needs to be if in realtime, or the lower the settings have to be.
     
    Tim Müller likes this.
  14. chris lowe

    chris lowe New Member

    Location:
    uk
    Hi - thanks found it!
    I've run the program with input and output connected to the laptop.
    It plays through ok and the sound bars show the signal level etc.
    The sound is not being corrected. I've tried each of the button settings - original, repaired, removed.
    There is no difference in the sound. Also adjusted the declick slider - no change.
    Do you need to have the sound playback via Java ?
    If so how do you configure it ?
    The example in the user guide shows the output sound as 'java sound playback'
    I don't see this only 'sound speaker ouput'.
    BTW I can't find the dropbox you referred to. Have you got a direct link to it?
    Thanks
     
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  15. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    The description of the video has the link (right below the video box): Dropbox - ClickRepairRTSamples »

    One mistake, especially in linux, is that sometimes you can hear the input play, regardless, so you are hearing the input of the audio, not the output of the cleaned audio... Setting it so the audio levels are correct in, but not heard looped through might be where you need to look. If you see color pulsating on the program vu bars, you know at least the program can hear the audio coming in - when i was setting the program up I could hear the audio but the vu meters didnt amd had to look for that setting in my mixer program on the OS. In linux, I had to make sure pulseaudio WASN'T running first - clickrepair/java needed to start it. In windows/mac this wont be a problem.
     
  16. muckyfingers

    muckyfingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA,USA
    How did you automate ClickRepairRT to "Start" processing the audio as soon as the program boots up? Or do you manually have to start it each time you boot up the PC?
     
  17. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    It starts automatically. Here are my extremely geeky and detailed instructions:
    Code:
    Settings in Bios:
    Have to toggle SATA for the USB drive to boot - it doesn't matter WHAT the setting is, a toggle has to occur for it to boot.  AHCI is the preferred setting.
    Set to Windows 7
    XHCI to Enabled
    CSM to Enabled
    Disable Onboard Audio
    
    Install debian with the non-free wireless unsupport iso.  This way you can use your wireless during installation.  Install only SSH and utilities, leave all other settings unclicked (like desktop preference)  I named the computer clickrepaircomputer and the general user named clickrepair
    
    After first successful boot:
    Set up wireless so it works with /etc/network/interfaces as root.  I had to add:
    auto wlan0
    iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wireless-essid nameofwireless
    
    If you use WPA or encrypted, there are other paramaters you will have to add.
    
    
    Update grub so you can boot without a monitor as well as set it so the computer won't hang on a reboot.  Edit as root /etc/default/grub and add or uncomment:
    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet reboot=pci"
    GRUB_TERMINAL=console
    GRUB_GFXMODE=auto
    
    Then run update-grub to updates
    
    
    At this point, you can use ssh to remote into the machine to get this going.  Determine its' IP address on your Router so you can remote via ssh into the machine:
    ssh clickrepair@IPADDRESS in linux, or use PUTTY on any other machine:
    
    su to run as root.  Run following as root command to install software:
    apt-get install xserver-xorg xinit lightdm xdotool alsa-base alsa-utils pulseaudio pavucontrol xserver-xorg-video-dummy x11vnc
    
    add java repos to /etc/apt/sources.list (I use nano as the editor of choice, so nano /etc/apt/sources.list)
    #java repos
    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu trusty main
    deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu trusty main
    
    Update repos and install java:
    apt-get update && apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
    
    After installation, run:
    apt-get install oracle-java8-set-default
    
    Edit /etc/lightdm/lighdm.conf to include the following lines under [SeatDefaults]
    session-setup-script=/usr/bin/x11vnc -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -o /var/log/x11vnc.log -forever -bg -nevershared
    autologin-user=clickrepair
    
    
    Exit root user (exit) and type:
    source /etc/profile
    echo $JAVA_HOME
    
    After plugging in USB soundcard, run alsamixer once and set levels.  Then, in home directory run the following to ensure permissions are always ok:
    chmod 777 .config/pulse
    
    
    
    Download and Copy the ClickRepair program to a remote computer.
    Copy the clickrepair java programs to the /home/clickrepair directory using scp (built in linux, or you can download for Windows via PuTTY program site):
    scp /FromWorkingDirectory/ClickRepair* clickrepair@ipaddress:/home/clickrepair/
    
    On clickrepair computer, as root, move ClickRepair programs to /usr/local/bin
    mv ClickRepair* /usr/local/bin
    
    
    Setting up X11 to run headless and allow VNC connections (as root):
    
    touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf
    
    edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and copy the following:
    Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Configured Video Device"
        Driver      "dummy"
        Option "IgnoreEDID" "true"
        Option "NoDDC" "true"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Monitor"
        Identifier  "Configured Monitor"
        HorizSync 31.5-48.5
        VertRefresh 50-70
    EndSection
    
    Section "Screen"
        Identifier  "Default Screen"
        Monitor     "Configured Monitor"
        Device      "Configured Video Device"
        DefaultDepth 24
        SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1024x800"
        EndSubSection
    EndSection
    
    
    
    Now, using a VNCViewer, log in and in the terminal window, start ClickRepair and register the program:
    java -jar /usr/local/bin/ClickRepair.jar
    
    Then we can try running ClickRepairRT:
    java -jar /usr/local/bin/ClickRepairRT.jar
    
    In an SSH session, go ahead and set all your levels.  Once done, exit ClickRepairRT and in su/root, save the alsa settings:
    alsactl store --file /etc/asound.state
    
    Then in /etc/rc.local add the line (BEFORE exit 0)
    alsactl restore --file /etc/asound.state
    
    What this does is save your settings no matter what - so if you boot accidentally without the usb soundcard attached or something, it will always restore to this point.
    
    I also run pavucontrol to set the levels for pulseaudio.  I do this with an ssh -X which will forward my pavucontrol program to a remote computer and that way I can set it up.
    
    Create in home directory an .xsession file to start the ClickRepair Utility: nano /home/clickrepair/.xsession
    sleep 5 && DISPLAY=:0 xdotool key space &
    amixer -c 1 set 'Line' cap
    java -jar /home/clickrepair/ClickRepair/ClickRepairRT.jar
    
    
    Notes: I ran amixer and set up the Line capture because for whatever reason, it would unset on boot.  This seemed to get fixed once I ran pavucontrol, but since it doesn't take any time, I set it again.
    Java HAS to start up pulseaudio - having pulseaudio already running (or as a daemon) makes the ClickRepair program confused and it fails.  Also, if you restart the program without a reboot, I would killall pulseaudio before restarting the program
    While the audio settings in ClickRepairRT/Java say 96000, this is really an upconversion and can be ignored.  I noticed no quality difference forcing the 48000 that my soundcard natively uses, so I just left it alone
    
     
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  18. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    To answer specifically, its this bit in linux:
    sleep 5 && DISPLAY=:0 xdotool key space &
    amixer -c 1 set 'Line' cap
    java -jar /home/clickrepair/ClickRepair/ClickRepairRT.jar

    Xdotool is a program that will emulate keyboard movements - I am telling it to wait five seconds, start the program, then hit the space bar to start the processing (instead of it just sitting there not doing anyhting). I can also remote into the machine via my iPad and make any changes to the settings, but I almost never have to. If you are using another operating system, there are other programs that you can use to program keystrokes into a script so you dont actually have to manually start the program processing. I asked the author about programming a commandline switch or setting, but it was just when he was giving up on the program, so he never did.

    Oh, and you may ask why start the keyboard program first and wait - it is because otherwise you lose focus on what windo younare sending the space to - since clickrepair is the last program opened, it is in focus and ready to be clicked on. While you can define paramaters to pick focus, etc. this was easier (and the lazy way to do it).
     
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  19. muckyfingers

    muckyfingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA,USA
    Thank you for the write up, I missed that little bit when I read through it the first time. I'll have to give it a go over the weekend.
     
  20. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Let us know how it goes! :)
     
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  21. Ozric

    Ozric Senior Member

    Not sure if anybody noticed this on the ClickRepair web site.

     
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  22. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yup. Been gone for awhile now. The internet wayback machine/archive.org has a copy of the program still out there to download, though.
     
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  23. muckyfingers

    muckyfingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA,USA
    I got some time this weekend to set it up and it works fantastic. I picked up a mini PC off Amazon for $72.50 shipped and it works great and is very small, only as tall as 4 CD cases and absolutely silent. The unit comes with Windows 10 which is self activating. I have this running the with the Declick setting just above the "k" as I found anymore than this and it started removing more than just clicks and pops from some albums.

    I have it booting into windows then auto launch ClickRepairRT and start the program, I used auto hotkey for this, all under 30 seconds for it to work. Here is a picture of the unit before it goes into its final place with the rest of my audio gear. (click on the picture for full res)

    [​IMG]

    Here is the link for the used mini PC just like I ordered, mine was scuffed up a bit, but for the price I can't complain.

    Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Azulle Quantum Byte Fanless Mini Desktop PC (Windows 10, Intel Atom Z3735F, 2GB RAM+32GB storage)
     
  24. krisbee

    krisbee Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Im so glad! I really love mine, and way cheaper than the commercial version that is still being beta tested. I do wonder if there was an, um, agreement which caused the program to no longer be offered...or was it simply lack of interest and resources. Regardless, enjoy the new toy!
     
    Tim Müller likes this.
  25. muckyfingers

    muckyfingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA,USA
    Thank you for the inspiration!

    It really blew me away just how well this software works. If he did sell or license out his software he deserves every cent. My buddy came by yesterday to check it out and he loved it as well. He is bringing over all necessary parts next weekend so I can set it all up for him.

    Also, if you only have ClickRepairRT running, it doesn't use much processing power. I have an old Atom 330 Mini ITX PC that's been kicking around in the garage for several years and it worked just fine on that system, much slower to boot up, but it works. I'll probably set it up and gift it to my parents since they definitely prefer function over form.
     
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