I used Non DAW [1] quite a bit to edit radio shows, and I loved its session format: each and every editing step is written in the file as a single-line entry. As a result, the sessions were really fun to parse and modify with awk scripts. The "unlimited undo" feature was also just consecutive lines in the session file. Most importantly, I could write a stupid converter in awk to turn the .non files into Vegas EDL files (a plain text format). From there, I could use the fascinating AATranslator [2] to convert my sessions into Avid Pro Tools files, which my editing studio was using and insisted. Saved me a ton of trouble: no need to edit my show in WinXP, Pro Tools 7 (!) and its hopeless fan noise even during simple, almost idle-like editing tasks. I wonder if later Pro Tools versions are any better in terms of resource overconsumption; I always found that almost ridiculous.
As a frugal systems geek and a dreamer, I've been conceptualizing a text-based non-destructive audio editing suite written in awk. No GUI, just operating with text files and terminal, along the lines of Mixer4 (really cool conception, unfortunately closed source) [3], Ecasound [4] and SPED (I think this was just an academic conception, though) [5].
This is still just a dream, though. Non-destructive audio editing with basic Unix tools in an as-simple-as-possible ed-like interface.
2: https://www.aatranslator.com.au/
3: http://www.acousticrefuge.com/mixer4.htm