It must be in the air, this dip...
anyway, one of you mentioned that new sounds are an inspiration but the multitude of patches you can download only seem to clog me. there're so many synth bass sounds and crunchy leads out there to make a deaf man vomit. I find trying to recreate real life sounds is very inspiring, or trying to combine sounds to create hybrid instruments. Make fantasy instruments that you can actually envision. try to think of a water-piano: a piano with strings that consist of water or how about a cloud-harp: how would that sound? I also enjoy reading the names that people made up for their patches. especially them synthpads and synthFX. try Phobos, or Titan or Atlantis. their are so many inspired souls out their how can actually synesthesize their sounds. [Synesthesia is the phenomenon in which one mixes up different types of the senses: colours can scream and sounds can sting.]
try making a sound that itches, or a sound that sort of sticky and wet, think of swamps and how would a rainbow sound? imagine the breathing of a planet and try to recreate that. How do smells sound? there's a million possibilities. I hope I don't sound like a new age fan or anything but the worlds just that magical if you can see it. That's my inspiration and if I forget it every now and again I just talk about music and sound in general with other people that love to talk about it.
hope this was of any help