WHAT HAS a stereo radio, two cassette decks, 12 sounds, 49 keys and a couple of speakers?? My front room during a wife swapping party. Everyone throws their keys into the middle of the carpet, then we all fish around and... oh, all right, it's the Casio CK-500.

Not the first of Casio's technology summits, bringing together (supposedly) three strands of the musician's lifestyle so on the same keyboard he can play and write songs, record arrangements and listen to the radio for inspiration when the coffee's gone cold.

These are stereo cassette decks (actually only the left-hand one records, the right is just for playback) so you compose by bouncing between two tapes. Chief advantage of the CK-500's system is speed — very few levels to set up, it copes with most of them automatically and you just get on with it. Obvious disadvantage is its severe limitations in doing anything with your tracks afterwards — no eq (well, a weak tone control on the final output), no panning, mixing, drop-in recording, nor send and return for effects. This is not my beautiful Portastudio.

It's light, even with the six SUM-1 size batteries in place (alternative mains plug on the back), has a four octave, mini, C to C keyboard and a standard, rather old fashioned array of sounds and drum patterns — organ, flute, trumpet, funny tone, rock, pops, tango etc. Disappointing, this, considering the current strides Casio are making in noise elsewhere in their range.

Two five watt speakers lurk behind fancy grey grilles, and what our fathers might call an aerial, and us more scientific types an antenna, is fixed to the back panel.

This runs to the stereo FM/AM radio which, with its satisfactory reception, helps prove there's little worth copping an ear to on Radio One. A function switch offers three positions — Radio, Tape and Keyboard. The last lets you play just the synth, and if desired accompany the tapes, but you can't tinkle along to the radio. It's possible to play back both tapes at once, but with no means of syncing them together, you're limited to special effects, simple lines or drones if you're planning a twin tape performance.

Dubbing is from the right-hand deck to the left-hand. Make your first recording, swap the tape over, play it back and record fresh material on a second cassette. Only the left-hand half has a tape counter, and it's without a memory so your cassette won't snap to a halt when the counter reaches zero.

No Dolby, nor DBX, and the decks run at standard 1⅞ips so we're right down to basics. After bouncing back and forth half-a-dozen times, I got less hiss than I expected, a bonus of going straight from synth to record head without the additional noise introduced by effects.

Your only control over level is from the three volume controls for the autochords, rhythm and keyboard sections. Balance them up and what you hear is what you get, with the inevitable drawback of those first recordings being pushed further into the background each time a new pass is added. Only the auto-chords and drums are in stereo — one on either side of your head — any keyboard line goes straight down the middle in mono; a ludicrous waste of two stereo cassette decks, if you ask me.

Less easy to skirt round is the fact that both decks boast not the smoothest transports in the world and sustained notes pick up noticeable wow and flutter. Bizarrely, this actually helps if you are recording two identical chord parts as the tiny meanderings in pitch make the end results sound as though you had a highly convincing chorus unit attached. Slim succour, however.

There are some musicians who much prefer the deck-to-deck method of recording. Unlike a self-contained four-track, you can preserve every stage of the recording, (providing you wind forward to a fresh stretch of tape, each time). If the last three dubs have been taking your song down the wrong route, go back to their forefather and start again.

To round off, a pitch control on the back, plus a socket for a microphone (supplied, and it has its own level control), h'phone and stereo phono outputs, four selections of auto bass and auto chord for each of the 12 drum rhythms, vibrato and delayed vibrato, plus sustain and (imitation) reverb for the eight note polyphonic synth sounds.

Sometimes Casio are brilliant (CZ-101 — a corker), and sometimes they're just looking for a gap in the market, and the CK-500 is the latter. For some budding synthesists, a fine idea. Convince your Dad to fork out £345 and you've started playing keyboards, writing songs, and home recording all at the same time, as well as fitting out your bedroom with a stereo radio (shame there are no INPUTS so the amp section can be connected to another tape deck). Even for more proficient players looking for fast ways of rough demoing songs, it's a possibility. However, the more experienced among us will find the keyboard sounds uninispiring and the recording facilities seriously limited. Can't please everyone, no matter how many knobs you put on it.

CASIO CK-500 keyboard, cassette, radio: £345

CONTACT: Casio, (Contact Details).