Hello, I had issues too with a cheap midi interface, I have exactly the same symptoms described by Axton.
I tried with an USB cable and it worked :
Put your BCR in U1 mode : Start it in a normal way, press Edit and Store simultaneously and put the upper knob 1 to the far left : U1
Switch the BCR off. Plug the USB cable, start the BCR in normal way, launch MIDIOX
Go to Actions, Send > sysex file, choose the Zaq sysex file and send it. The BCR will display some numbers (every 10% the counter increases)
Once finished, switch off the BCR and Switch it on, the Zaq demo mode will be started, I will try this out now =)
CyA