How can I do equalizing / noise reduction / fft / echo cancellation / …?
Java Sound is an API concerned with basic sound input and output. It does not contain digital signal processing algorithms. Nevertheless, you can do this with Java; you just have to code it on your own. Craig Lindley’s book (see Q: 1) contains some DSP algorithm. Also, it is often easy to transform C or C++ code found on the net to Java. You may want to have a look at the comp.dsp FAQ For code that does fft, have a look at the Peruna Project (original website is offline, view it at the Internet Archive).