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Remember when developer Harmonix vowed that if they ever added custom music creation to Rock Band, they wouldn't do a half-assed job? They revealed exactly what they were talking about this morning with the announcement of the Rock Band Network -- a comprehensive suite of music authoring tools for the rhythm game.

As promised, this isn't the sort of limited, sample-reliant toolset offered by the competition; Rock Band Network is designed to allow musicians -- from garage bands to the guys rocking sold-out arenas -- to generate Rock Band tracks from their own master recordings. Bands will be able to chart their own note highways, tweak character animations and effects, and select from several different pricing tiers before submitting their custom tracks to the in-game music store.

"Our goal with Rock Band has always been to go beyond making music games and create a true music platform," Harmonix CEO and co-founder Alex Rigopulos explained. "With the Rock Band Network, we've evolved the platform to its next logical step, giving players access to an incredible amount of new music by putting the professional tools we use in the hands of the artists themselves."

Much like XNA Community Games, Rock Band Network tracks will go through a peer review process before ending up on the main Rock Band store. In fact, an XNA Creator's Club membership ($49.99 for four months; $99.99 for a year) will be required in order to begin authoring songs, and all Rock Band Network tracks will have a 30-day exclusivity window on the Xbox 360. Beyond that, Harmonix says that "stand-out tracks" will make their way to the PlayStation 3 and Wii versions of the game.

Rock Band Network is scheduled to enter open beta this August -- about a month before Activision drops Guitar Hero 5. If this thing works out as advertised, it should be mighty interesting to see how the folks in the Guitar Hero camp respond. Our guess as to how they're reacting right now: With cartoon-like gusts of steam erupting from their ears.