I've been using LMMS for probably a decade now, inspired by various artists, yada yada yada.

A couple years ago I discovered a channel called "Rayboy Genius" on youtube. If anybody's heard of it already, you probably know it's kind of a weird place. A lot of people write it off as one of those bizarre animation channels whose sole existence is to be weird and creepy, but I've been following this channel for a while and that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure, the beginning of the series is kind of (read: incredibly) silly, but the story develops in surprising and fun ways, and once you get used to the animation, it does have a certain charm to it that you can't find anywhere else. But, what REALLY drew me in was the music. Basically, the guy who runs the channel has a PhD in music composition, and it shows- he even has a few videos on counterpoint and music theory, and if you type a question in the comments of some of his latest videos, chances are good that he'll answer them for you, and he's actually really courteous and friendly.

Since I started really paying attention to the music on this channel it's made me think more about how I compose things, and I think It's helped me to improve. A couple of my latest tracks have been almost directly inspired by Ratboy Genius. If you have a few minutes (and are fairly open-minded about space opera), check it out! You won't regret it.

This is the latest story arc, and IMHO some of his best work:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... nqNj3YG8Pv_

Here's one I finished most recently, trying to follow some counterpoint conventions (probably did it badly, but I think it sounds okay, so whatever):
https://soundcloud.com/spugintrntl/now- ... ocking-bay