I would be very cautious about trying aerobatics without idle up. In helis rotor speed is life. If you get the rotor RPM's too low you are asking for trouble. If the constant motor whine annoys you think how annoyed you would be if you had to buy a whole new heli.

As for pitch curves between Idle up 1 and normal I think that normal should be about +10 to -3 with hover at half stick or just above. Idle up 1 should be +10 to -10 again with 0 at mid stick. There's really no need for idle up 2. I never use my idle up 2 setting. Once you get use to starting up, hover, approach and landing in normal and everything else in Idle up 1 you'll be better off. You can do anything you want with a pitch range of +/-10. Trying to roll with only -1 of pitch is scary and just plain dnagerous. If you don't have enough altitude you'll end up drilling the machine into the ground and you'll have one hlee of a big corkscrew on the way down. Get that pitch range in there and keep the rotor speed up!

Also consider why a lot of heli flyers get a govenor.......to maintain a constant rotor RPM thoughout the ENTIRE flight. Full size helis always try to acheive this goal as well; constant rotor RPM. If you're chasing the RPM's all over the place then it's a disaster waiting to happen. Constant rotor RPM will make your heli fly smoother and fly through the manuvers like it's supposed to. If you even consider getting into inverted or 3D style flying you need to have it.

just my opinion.......

HTH,

Jeff