History Main / MachineMonotone

-->'''Dave:''' Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
-->'''HAL 9000:''' I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

* In ''The Trilisk Ruins'', [[StarfishAlien Shiny's species]] doesn't naturally use sound to communicate, and his first successful attempt to communicate with humans involves making one of his personal drones vibrate against the deck to produce sound waves. When he figures out how to talk directly via BrainComputerInterface, the link conveys his words a deep suave voice, but Telisa eventually tells him that she just can't associate the new voice with him and asks him to simulate the old buzzing drone-voice instead.

** "{{Literature/Reason}}": [[RobotNames QT-1]] has "the cold timbre inseparable from a metallic diaphragm". His laughter has zero inflection, and is as monotone as a metronome. However, his voice displays multiple levels of inflection, growing [[TinMan angry or compassionate]], depending on the situation.
* ''The Quest for Saint Aquin'', a 1951 short story by Creator/AnthonyBoucher. For his quest the priest is riding an artificially-intelligent [[MechanicalHorse robass]] that talks like this, to the exasperation of its rider as the lack of inflection gives the robass a default SarcasmMode and during one long monologue threatens to put the priest to sleep.

*** This trope has become such an integral part of Soundwave that if a new incarnation removes other parts iconic to the character (such as the color scheme, general design, role in the series, deployer abilities, and sound powers), fans will generally judge all other Soundwave depictions based on his voice patterns. A key example is in the Netflix ''War for Cybertron Trilogy'' series, where one of the many complaints is the quality of Soundwave's voice modulation, which sounded to light and artificial for the character.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', when SEES first comes across [[RobotGirl Aigis]], she speaks in a very dull monotone. Throughout the game, though, as she learns more about what it means to be a human being, she gradually starts to speak more fluidly and naturally: by the time she re-appears in ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', her speech, while still slightly stilted, sounds very human-like. Her "sister unit", Labrys, averts this trope completely, speaking very fluidly (albeit with a thick Kansai/[[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]] accent).

** In the episode The Changeling, a mind meld with the titular probe goes wrong, sending Spock into this mode (fortunately, only temporary).

** The modern Cybermen, as well as their [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet original incarnations]] from TheSixties, speak in a constant and unchanging monotone. That's the [[BodyHorror least freaky]] thing about them.

** In the episode "Robots of Death", the eponymous robots speak with no inflection. More often than not, all the robots and computers tend to do this.
** The modern Cybermen, as well as their original incarnations from the '60s, speak in a constant and unchanging monotone. That's the [[BodyHorror least freaky]] thing about them.

** Rico is the only robot character to talk like this, which belies the fact that he, like all robots in the game, [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots has a personality]]. Even his laugh is a monotone "ha ha ha" with little emotion. He humorously has to [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry say his feelings out loud]] for them to come across.

** Sprout is technically just a sentient plant operating a MiniMecha, but it can only communicate via the machine's voice synthesizer, which comes out as monotone RoboSpeak and ironically seems to have less personality than the actual robots in the game.

Their [[{{Scales}} tonality]] won't make them crash.\\