I've never used outboard gear before, so this is new to me.  How do I hook up a gate to the VS-700?  It's very tedious to cut out noise between guitar hits or snare drums, so I thought I'd use a noise gate going in.  I have the Drawmer DS404 and the manual says to plug it into the "Insert" on the board (male/female XLR cables to 1/4" TRS).  Where do I plug this in? 

Thanks...

Just put it in front of the inputs if there's no insert available.

There are really no inserts as such on the VS700R. Any signal processing has to be done prior to connecting anything to it. You need to run your instrument through any preamps or amps etc and then into the noise gate and then into the VS700R.
 
Another option is to record the noisy input signals without any signal processing. And then you could connect the outboard during mixdown by sending the noisy instruments to another output(s) into the gate and then back into the VS700R on another input(s) during mixdown.
 
Or simply use the digital noise gates etc that are built into the software. They too are very effective and can do very similar processes.

So I guess my first intuition was correct!  I read somewhere that I shouldn't put a gate simply in line and should instead use it as an input device, but I guess that's impossible with this setup.  Thanks!

Placing it right before the V700R inputs you want to gate will work best. Threshold and release are the  two things you'll have to niggle into a natural sounding open and close in relation to the noise.
 

I'll mess with it - I enjoy learning to use new equipment but tearing apart my rig to set it up gets frustrating.  I am next going to figure out how to send an already-recorded-track out to the gate, as that's also a useful feature and one of the reasons I bought the 4-channel one!

Honnestly gating the noisy recorded signal with plugins is the safest way to go I think.
 
1. You'll be sure you don't crew your take by misadjusting the hardware gate during recording, plugins allows to work non-destructively, while hardware add noise and are permanent if used during tracking.
 
2. If you have nothing else, use the sonitus gate included with sonar, great user interface and work awesome
 
If you absolutely want to use it while tracking, I would avoid using a mic plugged in the gate and then to the VS mic pres. The vs pres will applify the noise from the mic and from the gate circuit. Gates are designed to be quiet when used with line level (if you connect a guitar pre in it and then to the vs pre would be alright) but if the vs pres amplify the device's internal white noise by let's say 40db, the noise gate may loose its purpose wich is to remove noise...
 
The method Jeff described for external insert is spot on. Used it on some occasions and it work very nicely. The only thing is you have to record the result in real time (no fast bounce) so it's more time consuming.
 
 

Noise and noise gates can get tricky. Gating during mix down is sometimes more stable, but when you're dealing with noise verses music sound-noise, you have to realize that that noise is going to be in the recording if you don't get it out while recording. Noise gates do some filtering but not in the detail you may need. So, two stage gating, cleaning it up after the un-predictable's. Noise is specific as to it's source, room noise, external noise, equipment noise, line noise. Each will have to be addressed differently. Even the gate will introduce a noise when it opens and closes. It going to take some tuning.
 

Gating is no biggy especially if you just use a plug to alleviate any pain due to your setup. If using external gear is an issue, then you probably haven't got a patch bay yet. It makes things a whole lot easier when you need to do things easily external to the 'box'.
 
Cheers.

Thanks for all the help so far.  I was trying to get away from using so many plug-ins, as I clutter up my tracks quickly and I heard they add digital noise to the mix.  Now, I think I just re-convinced myself to stick with what I know instead of cluttering up my studio!