ClickRepair Is Back?

Wigwam Jones

Wigwam Jones

Caesar non supra grammati
Years ago (2015 according to my email), I bought a copy of ClickRepair for digitizing my vinyl records. It's a Java 'jar' file that runs under Windows, Mac, and pure Java (Linux, etc). It was created by a fellow named Brian Davies.

I found it to be amazing. Far better than Audacity, which does a reasonable job, but which requires a lot of manual intervention to get the worst scratches out.

I know there are other tools out there, and I've heard good things about many of them, but I run Linux and not Windows or Mac, and I don't want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars or sign up for an ongoing subscription fee, so I haven't messed with them.

However, Mr. Davies passed, and with it, his products. Over the years, with upgrades and lost hard drives and whatnot, I lost my copy of ClickRepair.

Recently I came across the old email he had sent me with my product key that I purchased. I thought perhaps I'd have yet another search of the web to see if I could find the old jar file somewhere.

I found this:


It seems someone is trying to revive the old tools. Using this, I was able to find the old files themselves online:

Resurrect your old recordings | Audio Restoration | Brian Davies

archive.clickrepair.org archive.clickrepair.org

I found my old ClickRepair jar file and downloaded it. I unzipped it onto a standalone PC running Linux (in case it was some kind of virus or whatever) and ran it with the latest version of OpenJDK (Java).

It works! I have my old ClickRepair back. I ran a couple of recent needle drops through it and they did the same kind of great job I remembered.

Thought I'd share the good news for anyone who might care.
 
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I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Davies has passed; I was afraid that was the case. He left us with some brilliant software for cleaning up old recordings. I have carefully kept copies of the .exe and .jar files for Clickrepair and its siblings Denoise and DenoiseLF, plus the Equalizer program. I have printed out in more than one place the registration info for Clickrepair and Denoise (which registers DenoiseLF as well) so that I can keep installing it whenever necessary, on Windows or Linux. I like them that much. Clickrepair will go after so many kinds of ticks and pops automatically and leaves so little evidence of having removed those noises! And on 78s, it can reduce the noise to a kind of hiss that Denoise can reduce without badly affecting the music. Equalizer is a nice bonus that correct for a number of equalization curves when they go through an RIAA preamp. It's amazing, for instance, to digitize an English Decca ffrr 78 or early long-playing record, apply the proper equalization correction, and have the sound snap into focus as the Decca sound.
 
AZOrganist said:
I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Davies has passed; I was afraid that was the case. He left us with some brilliant software for cleaning up old recordings. I have carefully kept copies of the .exe and .jar files for Clickrepair and its siblings Denoise and DenoiseLF, plus the Equalizer program. I have printed out in more than one place the registration info for Clickrepair and Denoise (which registers DenoiseLF as well) so that I can keep installing it whenever necessary, on Windows or Linux. I like them that much. Clickrepair will go after so many kinds of ticks and pops automatically and leaves so little evidence of having removed those noises! And on 78s, it can reduce the noise to a kind of hiss that Denoise can reduce without badly affecting the music. Equalizer is a nice bonus that correct for a number of equalization curves when they go through an RIAA preamp. It's amazing, for instance, to digitize an English Decca ffrr 78 or early long-playing record, apply the proper equalization correction, and have the sound snap into focus as the Decca sound.
Click to expand...
I agree on all counts. I have never found the equal of ClickRepair for vinyl, and I feared it was gone forever. Still had my old email with the activation code, but no jar file. Now that I have it again, I've been using it to great effect once more.

I'm thrilled to see that there is a 'community edition' available now, so that people who didn't have the opportunity to purchase the original will still be able to use the products.

Seriously folks, if you digitize your vinyl records, this is by far the best scratch remover I've ever used, and I've tried a few.
 
Someone started developing it again earlier this year, and even created an entire end-to-end vinyl ripping suite, but as of late October, both the Facebook group you could get it from and clickrepair.org, the site which gave you all kinds of tips and tricks you could use with the suite, are gone.

Fortunately, I was able to grab the last version of the suite, but I stopped using it because there seem to be problems with sped-up audio and occasional glitches in the rips I did with it. I do, however, use Clickrepair and the two DeNoises separately of the suite and they all work better than any tool I've ever used, definitely better than DCart10, which for some bizarre reason, is still a 32-bit only program and bog slow to boot. Frozen molasses are faster than it for most things, so nowadays I just use it for capture and then take the fixed audio into Izotope RX7 Elements for chopping the vinyl up.
 
Unfortunately, the Java applications ClickRepair, DeNoise, and all the other software created by Brian Davies were sold to SweetVinyl LLC, who then shut down the website (clickrepair.org) and the Facebook group.

It is forbidden to distribute the software; they are the only ones allowed to do so, and they have no interest in distributing it because it would compete with their SugarCube hardware.
 
Years ago when I was into needle drops I found that Sonicfoundry’s Noise Reduction 2.0 click remover was better than Click Repair.
From what I gather the software was bought out by Adobe ? and is still available.
It allowed you to set the threshold levels and- importantly to me- put all the removed audio into a wav file that you could listen to. This was very helpful in determining if actual audio was being removed or not.
The actual settings needed to Just remove clicks and not audio were significantly lower than what you would first expect.
 
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I've never used any click repair software. Part of the vinyl experience is listening to the clicks. If the record is too bad, buy a better copy, or get it on CD (assuming it's not to expensive or is available). I used one click repair software, and found it was "rounding off" some of the attack on cymbals and high-hats. And that was from just listening on my computer speakers.
 
Does someone have a copy of the latest clickrepair rt trial for windows? I assume, it was 1.43. Only found on wayback machine the version 1.3 on the archived clickrepair.net. It is still working amazingly fine, espacially compared to my Burwen 7000a! I setup an old windows tablet with an external sound card as real time declicker, with a manual chinch switcher as manual analog bypass for good records, so i dont have to switch on the tablet. Is a shame to hear that SweetVinyl LLC had put down clickrepair.org and the facebook group! Only because this little piece of genious old software is bringing their overpriced product in danger...
 
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When I first started ripping vinyl in the early-mid 2000s, I used Cool Edit Pro (later bought by Adobe, and now referred to as Audition) and its built-in de-clicker on my Windows laptop. When I switched to an early Intel iMac, I bought a program called SoundStudio which recorded fine, but only offered an 'interpolate' function for removing individual noises, nothing for mass de-clicking. A friend of mine told me about ClickRepair, and I found that it worked just about as well as CEP's de-click function. I've continued to use it ever since, across several different Macs, and it's a great solution for those who can't afford to spring for records which have been given the 'kid glove treatment' during their entire existences.

With regards to hardware solutions, I've also acquired a pair of KLH/Burwen noise reduction units, the DNF-1201A dynamic noise filter and the TNE-7000A transient noise eliminator. While I haven't used the 1201A much yet (maybe once I get back into tape), I did try the 7000A, and it seems to do a decent job, though I haven't tried comparing it to ClickRepair (and I'm sure it could stand to be recapped, anyway). I looked into the SugarCube, and while it seems like an interesting device, it's rather expensive for my tastes. Seeing as they're repressing the ClickRepair software, I'll stick with what I've got and not bother doing business with SweetVinyl..... :thumbsdown:
-Adam
 
I used for the last seven years a KLH TNE 7000a and recently brought back to life the original Burwen 7000 by replacing many caps. They work okay for me on medium clicks, but, however, i have the feeling they suck a bit life out of the music. Basses are loosing a bit of punch, and the spatiality in the music gets somewhat lost (seems a bit "less stereo"? Hard to explain). However, i am still fascinated by the way, the TNE 7000 was engineered and i spent many hours in trying to understand and finally repairing it... By coincidence, i found Clickrepair RT 1.3. I am amazed by the sound of Clickrepair RT, but using this digital way for realtime listening to vinyl still feels like cheating for me but it does a really great job on those 1% of bad but hard to replace vinyl in my collection (especially on quiet passages in classical or pop music). In comparison to the 7000(a), it seems to have less influence on the music when using it and almost gets all of the heavy clicks and pops. So if anyone still has a copy of the Version 1.41 or 1.43 of Clickrepair RT, please send me a PM, would be really thankful
 
I have the full set of files for windows, but NOT for Mac or Linux..

it is enhanced for 96kbps and 24 bit resolution with a custom JDL that the original author did NOT write....so the version I have is an enhancement.


The main Java file is 300mb so message me how you plan to get it from me?

SweetVinyl LLC or whatever can prove they own it then we caqn have a different discussion.

Looking at their products I see so many similarities that I suspecxt they were ...eh..."inspired by Clickrepair to make their overpriced product(s)
'
 
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pri said:
Unfortunately, the Java applications ClickRepair, DeNoise, and all the other software created by Brian Davies were sold to SweetVinyl LLC, who then shut down the website (clickrepair.org) and the Facebook group.

It is forbidden to distribute the software; they are the only ones allowed to do so, and they have no interest in distributing it because it would compete with their SugarCube hardware.
Click to expand...
Oddly archaic stance. I’d imagine the overlap is very small between those who want a home-grown real-time solution vs those who want turnkey. However, one would be great grass-roots marketing for the other.
 
z80cs@hotmai said:
I have the full set of files for windows, but NOT for Mac or Linux..

it is enhanced for 96kbps and 24 bit resolution with a custom JDL that the original author did NOT write....so the version I have is an enhancement.


The main Java file is 300mb so message me how you plan to get it from me?

SweetVinyl LLC or whatever can prove they own it then we caqn have a different discussion.

Looking at their products I see so many similarities that I suspecxt they were ...eh..."inspired by Clickrepair to make their overpriced product(s)
'
Click to expand...
Be carefully, they sent me proofs that they own the software..
But the big files the fixed JDK for 96Khz/24bit on Windows can be shared: VinylAssistantJDK.msi ( Remove your existing Java version and install it )
For easy install on MacOs, you can find the following installers:
OpenJDK 24 for Intel
OpenJDK 24 for Apple Silicon
 
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z80cs@hotmai said:
I have the full set of files for windows, but NOT for Mac or Linux..

it is enhanced for 96kbps and 24 bit resolution with a custom JDL that the original author did NOT write....so the version I have is an enhancement.


The main Java file is 300mb so message me how you plan to get it from me?

SweetVinyl LLC or whatever can prove they own it then we caqn have a different discussion.

Looking at their products I see so many similarities that I suspecxt they were ...eh..."inspired by Clickrepair to make their overpriced product(s)
'
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for your support! Meanwhile i found a source to the updated version, it runs great! Best update for me is, that the updated version is configured just to start by itself, when you start the pc. I encourage all to try out clickrepair RT before considering to buy the highly priced SweetVinyl product. I doubt, it does a better job...
 
For anyone interested, Gemini assures me that it can write the code to do this, for a rPi4, without using a dedicated DSP. It could very well drive an oled display as well, and take input from a few rotary encoders or buttons. It can also lay out any pcb needed and send the files to a PCB mill. All this for 40-80 bucks. I reckon adding a dedicated DSP would raise the bar even higher.
 
Is there any way to get ClickRepair now? All I had was a 21 day trial - by the time I downloaded it it was no longer possible to buy a license. It looks like Mr. Davies sold ClickRepair to the wrong people. What's the 'community edition'?
 
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