Lmms

[Time's Orphan]

Hi there everyone. I've been around OCR for years, but I've only just gotten into doing anything of my own recently. I'm attempting (and failing miserably thus far...though its only been a few days) to make some original tracks for a few friends who need music for a CompSci college course project.

Now, I've found a program (LMMS - Linux MultiMedia Studio) which fits into my budget at current (I'm pretty much broke...so free is good. lol), and seems like it might work well for what I'm attempting.

My first and foremost question here is this: Is there any of you wonderful folks out there who can vouch either for or against LMMS as a program, and possibly offer up some of the pro's and con's of its design?

Please bear in mind, while I would like to attempt in the future something like the more sophisticated and highly polished pieces I've seen around here, that the current project doesn't require anything more complicated or realistic sounding than your average Final Fantasy 1 or 2 MIDI tracks.

Also, on a somewhat tangential note, I was curious to see if there was anyone who might be willing to halfway mentor me. I'm not looking for anything too serious. I'm mostly looking for someone willing to chat on AIM, or another such medium (Skype, other IM's and VoiP's, etc?) once in a while, about projects you may be working on, techniques you find most helpful, and just to be a friend and helpful buddy whom I can throw little road-block questions at. All things that would give me some inside knowledge of these programs, without having to feel like I'm reading/searching a textbook all the time to learn about them. Anyone willing to help out in this capacity would have my deepest gratitude.

Thanks so much!