U-PHONIC ユーフォニックシリーズ

[ChunYinZi]

U-PHONIC was a "Music Library' company active in Japan during the 1980s and 1990s.

Some of their music has been used in anime, commercials, and railway-related fields.

They are divided into two series: ARCL and U-PHONIC


For example, the cartoons I used to watch as a child   "Case Closed'   "Crayon Shin-chan'  "Doraemon'

However, these tracks were not included on the official soundtrack,

In fact, there are many more animations and programs that use U-PHONIC,

A few years ago, there was a “music library” enthusiast in Japan

who purchased a large number of U-PHONIC CDs from official distributors

and convinced the company to partner with him to launch a website where people could listen to songs online.

However, the sound quality was poor, and the songs were also watermarked.

After all, they were only providing preview samples, so I think that was good enough.


This company's CDs are extremely rare; I've hardly ever seen used copies for sale online. You can buy brand-new ones from the official store, but they're quite expensive—about $250 each.


The one I’m sharing today is actually a used CD I found a while back. At the time, it was part of a set that also included CDs from other companies,


I've been really interested in this company lately, and I'm especially keen to get my hands on the Vol. 3-A CD,

So whenever I come across used CDs for sale, I try to buy them,

In fact, I’ve already bought quite a few CDs from Japan’s “Music Library.”

But I’d rather trade these CDs with others—to get the albums I want—or I might consider selling them on an online marketplace in Japan in the future,




I’ve included the official album preview page again, but please note that the audio quality is poor and there is a vocal watermark that interferes with the sound.

I just wanted to make it easier for everyone to copy the song titles,

rma-j.site/uphonic/up6b/


This is a classical-style album with excellent arrangements.

Tracks 274–293 are original compositions, while tracks 294–300 are arrangements of famous classical pieces.




Enjoy : transfer.it/t/08uqK7xHwD7L

[ChunYinZi]

I really like the UP-279   The arrangement flows really well,

[BenKirb]

First time seeing someone upload some U-PHONIC here! Thanks!

[Yohanes Salomo]

Man, the first U-PHONIC album uploaded on LMT for the first time ever.

[nidostar]

I was afraid of this. I've been trying to avoid the recent interest in Japanese BGM simply because I already have a large collection of European and US library tracks. But out of curiosity I decided to have a listen to this U-Phonic album for which thank you ChunYinZi. It's really quite good. Some lovely melodies and played on real instruments rather than electronic synth, 80s style video game stuff that I had feared. Until now my experience of Japanese music had pretty much been restricted to Jazz Fusion (The Square, Casiopea) oh and the soundtrack CD I have for the animated series Voltes V which was very popular in the Philippines in the 70s.

It seems like I may have to start saving for a new hard drive...........

[DoctorDoodle19]

I think people should give new things a chance. I have been one of the only people here to be such a huge enthusiast of Japanese Music Libraries and even I am trying to get into American ones.
And while this album isn’t the typical U-Phonic style, it’s so awesome to have some sort of UPhonic album in actual good quality with no watermarks or train noises! I hope we can find a Arcal album next…! Thank you so much Chun, so excited to listen to this!
BTW, there’s a guy who goes by EVandrailway and he owns every Arcal and U-Phonic CD. Perhaps he’s the one who owns the website, but if not, perhaps you could get in contact with him and ask him if he’d like to trade CD rips.

[ChunYinZi]

I was afraid of this. I've been trying to avoid the recent interest in Japanese BGM simply because I already have a large collection of European and US library tracks. But out of curiosity I decided to have a listen to this U-Phonic album for which thank you ChunYinZi. It's really quite good. Some lovely melodies and played on real instruments rather than electronic synth, 80s style video game stuff that I had feared. Until now my experience of Japanese music had pretty much been restricted to Jazz Fusion (The Square, Casiopea) oh and the soundtrack CD I have for the animated series Voltes V which was very popular in the Philippines in the 70s.

It seems like I may have to start saving for a new hard drive...........

As I guessed, I also think that most people in LTM would like this album because its style is very similar to the albums from the 70-80s European and American Music Libraries,

[ChunYinZi]

I think people should give new things a chance. I have been one of the only people here to be such a huge enthusiast of Japanese Music Libraries and even I am trying to get into American ones.
And while this album isn’t the typical U-Phonic style, it’s so awesome to have some sort of UPhonic album in actual good quality with no watermarks or train noises! I hope we can find a Arcal album next…! Thank you so much Chun, so excited to listen to this!
BTW, there’s a guy who goes by EVandrailway and he owns every Arcal and U-Phonic CD. Perhaps he’s the one who owns the website, but if not, perhaps you could get in contact with him and ask him if he’d like to trade CD rips.

EVandrailway？ Is this the name of a YouTube account? You can try contacting him, I still have some CDs in transit. But by the end of June, I will receive everything and plan to record a new video. Available for them to exchange,

[DoctorDoodle19]

Here’s what I have noticed about EVandrailway:
He has put every album on RMA to Discogs, with his own scans, meaning he owns the CDs.
He has a niconico account, and I believe he has a YouTube account as well.
I feel like he might be quite strict about the CD ownership, but if it’s just CD rips he might be fine.

[ChunYinZi]

Here’s what I have noticed about EVandrailway:
He has put every album on RMA to Discogs, with his own scans, meaning he owns the CDs.
He has a niconico account, and I believe he has a YouTube account as well.
I feel like he might be quite strict about the CD ownership, but if it’s just CD rips he might be fine.

Unfortunately, I don't have a niconico account and it seems quite complicated to register. Perhaps I need a Japanese phone number or other verification, and personally, I don't like to request others. If there are more u-phonic CDs in the future, I will pay more attention. After all, there are many excellent "Library Music" and I won't just focus on this one,

[Psyclon]

The reason why I am not putting Japanese library music high on my priority list is that they are almost completely synthesized. But not in a good way. In JP, they (over)use Roland.
You remember the MS-GS Wavetable, when your PC did not have a dedicated synthesizer, so WinXP would these instruments to play back General MIDI. And I loathe those samples. The same drums, the weird cowbell and the same, dirty-sounding bass. And many "BGM" albums have this sound.

For example, it says "Jazz evening in a bar" immediately the really bad "Alto Sax" sample comes up. If you get what I mean.

[ChunYinZi]

The reason why I am not putting Japanese library music high on my priority list is that they are almost completely synthesized. But not in a good way. In JP, they (over)use Roland.
You remember the MS-GS Wavetable, when your PC did not have a dedicated synthesizer, so WinXP would these instruments to play back General MIDI. And I loathe those samples. The same drums, the weird cowbell and the same, dirty-sounding bass. And many "BGM" albums have this sound.

For example, it says "Jazz evening in a bar" immediately the really bad "Alto Sax" sample comes up. If you get what I mean.

Nice to see you back at LTM. Yes, I also prefer the "Music Library" in Europe and America, but I think the "Music Library" in Japan is mysterious. Most of them have been lost, and I really want to find some unknown music that seems to come from the Japanese music library, so I have been buying CDs again. After all, they can only confirm through CD opening,

[Yohanes Salomo]

Nice to see you back at LTM. Yes, I also prefer the "Music Library" in Europe and America, but I think the "Music Library" in Japan is mysterious. Most of them have been lost, and I really want to find some unknown music that seems to come from the Japanese music library, so I have been buying CDs again. After all, they can only confirm through CD opening,

Yep, I agree. Also, I mostly prefer the music library in America, but I like music library in Europe and Japan also.

[DoctorDoodle19]

The reason why I am not putting Japanese library music high on my priority list is that they are almost completely synthesized. But not in a good way. In JP, they (over)use Roland.
You remember the MS-GS Wavetable, when your PC did not have a dedicated synthesizer, so WinXP would these instruments to play back General MIDI. And I loathe those samples. The same drums, the weird cowbell and the same, dirty-sounding bass. And many "BGM" albums have this sound.

For example, it says "Jazz evening in a bar" immediately the really bad "Alto Sax" sample comes up. If you get what I mean.

I notice this in only certain music libraries from Japan.
Take this as an example:
Sound Maker.
A music library owned by Media Works Japan
Their new music is good, but their first 3 sound maker albums, all had the same sound.
Same Roland-707, same sax sound, and some weird car horn noise.
And the newer sound maker stuff, volume 12 for example, is a really good album. It’s still midi, but has uses of real electric guitar and bass.
But others, like Teichiku and Sound Factory, use MIDI only parts of the time, and for Teichiku (AKA Multi Use BGM Library) most of their music is live instrument recordings, like an actual band.
And Sound Factory, uses MIDI and live instruments and illustrates them in a way so that the pieces of music are actually interesting to listen to and artistically unique.
So, I guess it depends on what music libraries from Japan you’ve actually heard music from, perhaps?

[DoctorDoodle19]

Here’s what I have noticed about EVandrailway:
He has put every album on RMA to Discogs, with his own scans, meaning he owns the CDs.
He has a niconico account, and I believe he has a YouTube account as well.
I feel like he might be quite strict about the CD ownership, but if it’s just CD rips he might be fine.

Unfortunately, I don't have a niconico account and it seems quite complicated to register. Perhaps I need a Japanese phone number or other verification, and personally, I don't like to request others. If there are more u-phonic CDs in the future, I will pay more attention. After all, there are many excellent "Library Music" and I won't just focus on this one,

I understand your point, but sometimes I get the feeling that “well okay, if we’ve gotten this far, we should keep going!” Because I think having an album from this series just makes me want to find more of it. But in cases like MUSiA, where I know the albums are hard to find, I focus on other music libraries, while waiting for CDs of that series to go on sale.