SOLUTION:

Apologies for faff but my PC is in Russian which made it a bit tricky as a MacUser. I have updated the firmware of my evenMIDI (v2 – “with digits” meaning it has a 2 digit display)I am going to tweak the manual:

• Turn off the EvenMidi H9
• Unscrew the 4/6 screws of the back enclosure back to access to electronic components (you do not need to undo the footswitches)
• Carefully insert a screwdriver to separate the back enclosure from the main section containing the electronic components
• Once opened, you can find the main chip (a mega328p – AU 1/ 10) which is on the left side of the PCB (big green printed circuit board)
• Carefully and gently remove the main chip from the PCB to reveal  2 rows of little pins…
• NB: It is required to remove this main chip otherwise the firmware update will not be transferred
• Download a copy of the drivers (if you have not already done so) which in the year 2021 are called CH341SER.zip and can be found in English (thanks Camn 🙂 as well as Chinese (which the evenMIDI website linked to)
• Unzip the drivers and find the .EXE file.
• Plug a Mini USB cable into the main chip (it is on the right hand side) and it will light up (there are 4 small LEDs) with a red light and a green light
• Windows will (hopefully) install the CH340 driver (runs on Windows 7/8/10) or install the driver here [see evenMIDI link]
• Download the Files at the top of the evenMIDI page called – “EvenMidi-H9-V2-Midi-Controller-V1.4” which contains the HEX file
• Unzip the file “EvenMidi-H9-V2-Midi-Controller-V1.4” you will the HEX file
• HIATUS: somewhere I managed to get a copy of evenMIDI x_Loasder.exe – no idea how it appeared on my Russian PC but…
• Run EvenMIDI X-loader.exe and you will see a small dialogue asking for the “HEX file”. Select the evenmidi HEX file u just unzipped
• Under “Device” choose Duemilanove / Nano (ATmega328)” this I did and it worked.
• The EVENmidi manual now says: “Load the .hex (firmware), choose the correct USB port. COM Port can be find in your Device Manager(windows+r+write: devmgmt.msc then ENTER) and check the COM port CH340G in Ports(COM and LPT))”
• That didn’t make much sense to me because I simply chose COM3 (which failed) but COM4 worked OK
• NB: I left the “Baud Rate” at 57600
• Upload then wait the update confirmation message.
• However there was no actual confirmation message all it said was” 27912 bytes uploaded”. Puzzled, I waited. And waited some more. Then mysteriously the dialogue disappeared. Hmmm…
• The manual now says: “Your card is up to date, you can remove the USB cable and replace it”. and also it has IMPORTANT advice: the green PCB circuit board has the words “USB” helpfully printed just below where the main chip is located, to show which side is the USB port, to put it back in the right way round. Do *not* plug it the wrong way round or your card may be damaged.
• OK, so I powered up and – “1.4” appears momentarily just before the goes to a preset
• I will now have a play with it and if there are snags will add to this

I hope these instructions help anyone who has an upgrade to their evenMIDI. I am still unsure where the “evenmidi X-Uploader.exe” is, nor do I know if it is any different to the standard xUploader that can be used on other computers than Windows. That might be useful – to find a Linux or a Mac-based procedure to upgrade the firmware

Best

:lu