> I'd be more effective if I could just get at the underlying code
For something similar to MaxMSP/PureData but with writing code in a text editor, you may wish to take a look at ChucK [1]. Instead of graphical edges or links between between UGens ChucK provides the '=>' operator.
E.g.
adc => Chorus c => LPF lpf => Echo e => Delay d => dac;