Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools 11.09 vs PD Cleaner

Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools 11.09 is Windows software for cleaning recordings, including old records and tapes, as well as conversations, speeches and concerts. Restoration tools cover noise reduction, spectral repair, click and crackle removal, hum removal, declip repair and batch processing. Harmonic Noise filters at 100 and 120 Hz address line noise. Other capabilities include audio conversion, transcription, speed and pitch changes, and audio and acoustical measurements. It supports ASIO sound card drivers, AAC files such as.aac and.m4a, and up to six VST plug-ins at a time. Its spectrograph display includes Mel frequency axis scaling, added in version 11.08. The standalone program requires Microsoft Windows 10 or later. It costs $59, paid once; there is no free plan, but a demo download is available. The product page includes one year of free support, with manuals, a knowledge base and a user discussion area listed as support resources.

PD Cleaner is a free Windows app for reducing clicks, crackle, hiss, and hum in old recordings, particularly public-domain recordings made before 1926. Drop in a file and it analyzes its era, noise, and clicks; a Clean dial lets you adjust the cleaning. Its voicings cover cylinders, acoustic 78s, and early electric recordings, alongside an uncoloured transfer option. A live before-and-after spectrum analyzer can show a curve, waterfall, or both, and users can solo noise being removed. The app works as a VST3 insert in a DAW or as a standalone program. Folder-based batch processing with one preset is limited to the standalone version. Built-in formats are WAV, FLAC, AIFF, Ogg, MP3, and Opus; a free optional add-on provides AAC and more. It supports 24-bit archival exports and says it does not overwrite the original file. The maker describes it as offline software. The Windows release is open source under AGPLv3, and its build may show an unknown publisher warning when first run.