Ok, it turns out that mame debugger can load/save memory from/to file. I've downloaded a sysex file containing 64 factory patches, cleaned it up and loaded it in debugger. I've edited first 8 patches again, setting bank number from 1 to 8. Save, restart, load - all was there. No idea why it didn't work on the hardware. Maybe I have saved patches 2-1 - 2-8 and loaded 1-1 - 1-8 instead? No clue. I have also added the NOP instruction between latch pulses - maybe that's why it sometimes doesn't work, who knows. At least I had one free byte for my disposal :)

I got back to the synthesizer (of course with the old ROM, because I have nothing to write the firmware to), played with it a little bit only to confirm, that sometimes changing bank number from 2 to 3 doesn't work as it should - instead of 3 it sets 0. Other combinations seem to work fine, so I doubt it's a timing issue... Maybe I'll hook up my logic analyzer (be careful this time:>).

Oh! I almost forgot! I know why the bank numbers were messed up after reboot - there's no SRAM battery on the mainboard! FACEPALM! But that solves one of my problems :)