Avid offers a free version of Pro Tools

Avid has surprised the industry with Blackmagic Design-style news, releasing a free version of its award-winning system for recording, editing and mixing sound.

Pro Tools First is a scaled-down version of the full system (costing $899), but still with many of its capabilities included. The company advertises it as “simple enough for beginners to learn and sophisticated enough for expert musicians.”

The software includes a selection of session templates that provide pre-installed instrument tracks to start creating a song and can record up to 16 audio tracks with up to four simultaneous inputs using a USB interface.

It comes with about 20 effects, sound processors and plugins such as EQ III or Dynamics III. In addition, it is possible to expand the toolset through the Avid App Store, with the collection of AAX plugins (these are paid) and First packages available in the Avid Marketplace.

Thanks to the Avid MediaCentral platform, Pro Tools First is able to store and manage sessions securely in the cloud, allowing users to connect to an Avid account from any Mac or PC with the software installed. Up to three projects can be stored in the cloud for free.

In addition, this system will support Avid Cloud Collaboration when it becomes available, to facilitate collaboration between multiple users located anywhere in the world.

Pro Tools First will be available for free download from the Avid website in the first quarter of 2015, most likely tying its release to that of Pro Tools 12.