I am considering buying a Tascam DR-44WL as a backup to my trusty M10.
I was also intrigued by the idea of running the DR-44WL in tandem with the M10 in hopes of producing 3 sources for one show.
I have several sets of mics I could use with the DR-44WL that have been collecting dust for a while. Taping with 2 recorders would breathe new life into these neglected mics.
My main concern is that when running both recorders simultaneously, instead of producing one excellent capture with my M10 and CA-14s/Ugly 2 preamp,
I'd produce 3 crappy captures because I wouldn't be able to dedicate my attention to one recorder while dealing with an unpredictable concert environment.
I should mention that I have a friend who I usually drag to shows. I could always have him tape with the DR-44WL and OKM-II R omni mic, while I tape with my M10/CA-14 rig.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
I'm a big fan of the M10, and for exactly the same situation as yours (wanting to run more mics and to have a back up recording) I snagged another M10 when a good deal on one appeared in Yardsale. That deck is so intuitive to use and I am so familiar with its operation that there was zero learning curve to running another set of mics.
Also, having two identical recorders is especially helpful to me because I love to run comparisons - I try to have as many parts of the chain as closely matched as possible, and just change one variable to isolate how it affects the end result. It was especially fun to see how how well [Mics>Plug In Power] worked compared to running [mics>preamp>line in]
I was always too nervous to use the "PIP" on the M10 until I picked up the second one. I ran AT853's>preamp>line in and on the second deck I ran another pair of AT853's directly to the PIP. I was really surprised at the results. The M10 on its own, without a preamp in the chain, seemed to have it's own "flavor" that was missing, overridden (or altered) by the preamp added to the chain. I liked that source so much I just went with it:
https://archive.org/details/isd2016-02-18.at853.flac16Of course for louder music a preamp is probably safer, so it's great to run both ways - if one doesn't work out you always have the other