Real Time Click Repair MiniPC Setup

The current model has rca outs on the back. The latest one has a white logo on the top, the previous one is black.

 

OK, so if there are RCA outputs in the back, the device does allow you to choose how to output the signal. OK, great! I was afraid for a sec that it'd force you to use specific outputs which would limit its use to me. Again, thanks for clarifying that up.

 

Sorry, I made a mistake, it’s got 1/4” phono sockets on the back, so you’d need another 2x rca to 1/4” phono (so 4 in all)
I just set it up like you’d have it (2 rca in and 2 rca out) and it works fine going into my amp, in this configuration it’s using the focusrite dac, in my own setup I use my Rega Dac-r. Listening to a ropey old copy of seventeen seconds by The Cure and it’s cleaning it up really well. Make sure the monitor switch on the focusrite is off or you get a layered delayed sound.

 

I brought 2 of these 1/4" to RCA leads off Amazon for my setup.

Really good quality built leads for the money.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0030LWZDG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I’ve been looking for RT for awhile now. I have a paid license but cannot find Rt. Had it awhile back but didn’t back it up assuming I could redownload. Nope!!! Tried wayback machine with no luck. Any tips?

 

I got it here....
Downloads for Windows OS | Audio Restoration | Brian Davies

 

I emailed the author who Kindly sent me the last version issued.

 

Thanks! Oddly this directs to YouTube but eventually lands in the clickrepair link.

While I don’t see ClickRepairRt itself, will I find it the clickrepair installer?

 

At this point in time I think it was part of the same package, so it should install both. Worked for me. I got the link from a YouTube comment, maybe that’s why it links through that, not sure.

 

Really appreciate the link - was able to download. Now to find my old registration info....

 

Good luck! It's mentioned on the website that it's impossible to retrieve it if lost by the user.

 

I’ll just buy another one. Assuming the dev gets back to me.

 

He should, although it can sometimes take a bit of time. I bought a license a couple of months ago.

 

I got the demo up and running with RT and it is indeed awesome. Wonder why the dev abandoned RT?

 

Brilliant! It is an impressive piece of software for such a small outlay.

What soundcard are you using?

 

I think it was to do with driver maintenance.

 

It’s a late generation Mac Pro (tower).

 

I wonder.... seems to be the sort of innovation that could integrate into modern phono-preamps or integrateds.

 

Firstly, there's the Sweet Vinyl Sugar Cube which does just that. Secondly, in my experience, most people who love vinyl enough to spend large amounts of money on gear tend to be traditionalists who'd frown on the practice.

 

His software works through java, so he doesnt have to program for each OS, computer , etc. The java sound drivers are not made by him but are critical to the program working right... and he said he got tired of debugging stuff that was out of his control.

 

And for shiggles, here is a video I made that doesnt demo as well as my other video, but shows off the program again...

 

Never heard of the Sugar Cube, will give that a look out of curiosity!

Hear you on traditionalists - but they are only getting older. For the kids who haven’t developed their own internal vinyl noise filters this sort of thing could keep vinyl relevant for years to come.

Of course the audiophile who can hear the benefits of high-res (I am not one of them) would demand higher-res conversion, I’m sure.

 

The basic Sugarcube cost's £1500 against the Clickrepair solution which costs £120 including a mini pc

 

Oh of course. I’m not about to buy that. But I could see such tech integrating into modern amps and phono pres assuming the processing requirements arent immense.

I’m running a six core Xeon CPU but this little app is hardly maxing it out.

Was fun listening to my very early, very noisy, Zep I though this. Better than a repress on fresh vinyl!

 

I had the plan to buy or build such a click removal device for a long time now. Buying was not really an option, as there are only two such devices available (Sugarcube and the ELP declicker), and both are very expensive, so I even decided to build one a few weeks ago, on the basis of the informations here.
My first try was with a Raspberry Pi 2 and a Behringer UCA222. It took two whole days and many tweaking to get the audio interface, Java, ClickRepair RT and finally all together to work on Raspbian. It finally worked, but with many dropouts, as the CPU of the Pi 2 is a little bit too weak to do the real-time processing (even overclocking as much as possible didn't help).
So, the next try was with an Asus Tinker Board - a clone of the Pi (more or less) with a much more powerful CPU. Two further days later - it was even trickier to get it running than on the original Pi - I had it, and it worked flawlessly. But, I was still not really satisfied. One thing was the Behringer "toy", which in my opinion has an awful sound quality, especially on the input. Let the signal of a $2000 turntable passing through such a piece of crap wasn't really acceptable for me. The second thing is ClickRepair itself. It does a good job for the price and in consideration of the fact that it's the only existing stand-alone real time click removal software, but the quality of the click removal is by far not comparable with real professional audio restoration tools like iZotope RX. So I wanted more.

I bought a second-hand Lenovo Thinkcentre M72e Tiny PC. It's really small, very powerful in comparison to all the single-board computers and still quiet (it's not fanless, but the small fan is barely audible even on high CPU load). Then I needed an audio interface, I used my Tascam US-1800 for the first try, but then replaced it with a Scarlett 2i2 as I need the Tascam for other purposes. I installed iZotope RX5 on it, as I already own a licence, and the small freeware tool VSTHost, which makes it possible to use VST plugins for real-time processing. Then, I configured the PC to start VSTHost with the iZotope declicker and my preferences after booting. Boots up in about 15 seconds with Win8.
That's it!
The Pentium G2030T of the Lenovo has enough power for iZotope declicker to run on highest quality settings perfectly (M-Band for random clicks, 96k/24bit).
Additionally, I built an automatic bypass circuit using a relay board which I power through one of the USB ports, so as long as the PC is off, the signal from the phono preamp goes directly into the amplifier, and as soon as I switch on the PC it is routed through the audio interface. This was important for me, as I plan to use the declicker only on bad records, and as over 90% of my records are in near-mint condition, there is no need to use a declicker, I rather want to listen to them "pure analog".
Listened to this setup for many hours now, and it sounds fantastic!

Total cost for this setup:
Lenovo Thinkcentre - $80-100 (second-hand, mine had a Windows 8 license already included)
SSD for the Lenovo instead of the loud and slow HDD: $30-60
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 - $ 150
iZotope RX for those not already own a license: $129 (the smallest "Elements" version is enough for this purpose)
and if needed: electronic parts and housing for the bypass circuit - ~$20