Are you a World Cup fan annoyed by the constant sound of the South African vuvuzela horn? Wish you could remove that sound from your World Cup viewing experience? Do you want to learn a little bit about powerful modular effects routing can be on Linux? Either? Both? Call it “football”? “Soccer”? Any way round, we’ve got you covered.

(Disclaimer: I have nothing in particular against the vuvuzela. But here you go, anyway.)

Updated: Via comments, here’s a Mac plug-in for filtering the horn, also a notch filter, and a sign that this is getting a little carried away. (Mostly, I think this is a useful way to learn about JACK, something you can use after the World Cup. But knowing football fans, “after the World Cup” may not be a phrase with any meaning at the moment.)

JACK is a powerful audio API on Linux, and thanks to rich application support for the tool, you can route sound arbitrarily between software tools, making everything on your computer into a kind of virtual studio. (Mac users should check out the excellent JACK OS X implementation.)

Felix Kaechele, a German-based Fedora community member and Fedora Ambassador, uses JACK to filter out sound from his live World Cup feed. If you’re curious about how JACK works and how to add effects to your system (or record a system audio feed, etc.), this is the way to go. The trick here is that PulseAudio, the default sound API on Linux, actually gets routed right into JACK.

Wanting something is different from needing something. And bending something to musical activities is different from requiring something for musical activities.

Apple introduced a promising-looking update Monday to the iPhone. I didn’t really see much reason to talk about it, because there’s nothing specific in the update to music, even if it is a worthy upgrade. On CDMotion, the new onboard camera and video publishing features led to a larger discussion about what to use for capturing video for live visual sets, from comments including mention of the older 3GS and even a phone from Nokia to cheap stabilization solutions. But apart from a gyro sensor likely to be used in a new Smule app and a faster processor, there’s nothing essential to music apps — good news if you already own an iPhone, in fact.

So, if you want an iPhone, go get one. What I find surprising is that this device is inspiring some of my music tech blog colleagues to say things that I don’t think are true.

Now, regular readers know, I haven’t shied away from covering mobile music tech. If it’s a platform, and you can make sounds with it, I think it’s worth noticing, be it an iPhone, Game Boy, Arduino, teletype machine, steam organ, whatever.

But even with all the development activity around these devices, it is possible to lose perspective, or overstate what these gadgets are. And as a result, I feel a bit obligated to point out some observations I thought were self-evident, but evidently aren’t.

The Apple iPad has terrific, responsive multi-touch input, but for many, using it to control music would mean carrying an iPad and a computer. That’s a cheaper combination than using a JazzMutant Lemur with a computer, but it’s still two pieces. With a number of PCs gradually adding touch capabilities, it seems inevitable that integrated touch for music will become at least a compelling option. These machines also have some features the iPad lacks, such as USB and other conventional I/O, and true pen input, which can be more precise for arts applications …and they’re traditional computers, with all the flexibility that entails.

Argentina-based DJ Pablo Martin gives CDM the scoop on his new Emulator software. The descendant of the Lemur-style MonotouchLive control, Emulator looks more mature, and adds multi-touch support. It’s ready to run Traktor out of the box, but other tools are possible, too. With a revision of HP’s TM2 expected this summer, we could have an interesting, more powerful alternative to the more limited tablets about to follow in the iPad’s footsteps. (I’ll say this – it would have been a better machine on the trip I’m on currently, both for the touch/tablet capabilities and longer battery life than my more conventional Asus laptop.)

I’ll let Pablo explain the rest. I’m in touch with HP and others, so I hope to offer some information on what these solutions are like, alongside the iPad, of course.

Apple today refreshed its MacBook Pro line in a long-awaited update, moving the Apple laptops in line with recent advancements in Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs. There are some caveats when you pull apart the line, however – the 13″ models miss out on the new CPUs in this lineup, at least – and you’ll pay to get some of the better improvements. Of course, a Mac is a Mac; for many readers, it’s the reliability of the combination with the Mac OS that is likely to be the deciding factor.

The best news is, the 15″ and 17″ models are getting new Core i5 and i7 processors, which boast significant performance boosts and improved battery life. That’s a plus both for number-crunching audio production power and for keeping your battery going while you’re running Ableton on the trans-continental coach flight. These aren’t huge changes, though – and, at the risk of igniting some flame wars, there are competitive PCs that use the same technologies. But if you were waiting for this refresh to get a new Mac (or pick up an almost-new Mac at a discount), today’s your lucky day.

You can read the full specs from Apple, and Engadget has even done an unboxing of the top-of-the-line i7 model, but here’s a quick overview of how the models compare.

13″
$1199-1499
Core 2 Duo (2.4-2.66) – not the newer Core i3/i5/i7 (yet)
Integrated graphics (NVIDIA 320M, similar to the 310M – think a new generation of the previous 9400M)
1280 by 800 graphics
Up to 10 hours battery life
Two USB 2.0, one FireWire 800, one SD card slot

15″
$1799-2199
Core i5/i7 (2.4-2.66) CPU
NVIDIA 330M discrete GPU switches with integrated graphics for better battery life
1440 by 900 graphics
9 hours battery life
Two USB 2.0, one FireWire 800, one SD card slot

17″
$2299-2499
2.53G Core i5 ($200 more gets you the 2.66 i7 as a custom option, not listed in the specs)
Three USB 2.0, one FireWire 800, ExpressCard/34 slot

Want to reignite interest in DJs who actually use their hands and fingers to slice up and juggle sounds? A cavalcade of “laptopists” is the ticket. Suddenly, at least in some corners, people are again interested in turntablism. It’s nice to see how a controller can integrate digital loop and cue points with a setup that still focuses on scratching. And Stanton’s SCS.3d turns out to be scriptable in the open source DJ software Mixxx. As some live PA musicians revert to a “push play” mentality, DJs can keep it interesting.