1. In a frequency analysis system, a method for producing a frequency domain representation of a number N of signal samples of a signal input to the frequency analysis system, the signal samples having a sample rate and an uncompressed bit rate, wherein the frequency analysis system includes a data interface having a capacity allocated for storage or transfer of the signal samples that is limited to fewer than N of the signal samples at the uncompressed bit rate, comprising: compressing at least N of the signal samples in accordance with a control parameter to form a compressed signal that represents the at least N signal samples, the compressed signal having a compressed bit rate, wherein a compression ratio of the uncompressed bit rate to the compressed bit rate is greater than one; transferring the compressed signal to the data interface; retrieving the compressed signal from the data interface; decompressing the compressed signal to form at least N decompressed signal samples; and calculating a frequency domain transformation of N of the decompressed signal samples to form frequency domain samples of the frequency domain representation having a frequency domain resolution that is less than or equal to the sample rate divided by N.