[albee1952]

As long as you use the TRS inputs coming into the 003 and Digimax, you at least are bypassing an entire GAIN stage(and this would be the correct way to do it). Coming into the Digimax via the insert return would be the cleanest and shortest path, with the disadvantage that it will be an unbalanced connection(up to you to decide if that's a problem or not). On the 003, I would use the TRS inputs for 1 thru 4 and crank the GAIN knobs all the way down. On 5 thru 8, make sure the level switches on the back are in the +4 position. As for the Digimax, I guess you just need to try both ways and see if you prefer the sound of one way over the other(or if you can even hear a difference).