A mass spectrometer system comprising: an ion source; an electrostatic trapping mass analyzer configured to trap ions received from the ion source; a computer or information processor configured to receive a transient signal that is generated by the electrostatic trapping mass analyzer with said electrostatic trapping mass analyzer operated at its maximum resolution, the computer or information processor comprising computer readable instructions configured to: partition the transient signal into signal segments; define a test transient as being equal to a first one of the segments; calculate a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generate a spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; determine a quality metric from the spectrum of component frequencies and compare the quality metric to either a pre-determined minimum threshold value or a pre-determined maximum threshold value; perform, while the most-recently-determined quality metric is either less than the pre-determined minimum threshold value or greater than the pre-determined maximum threshold value, the steps of: appending a next signal segment onto the test transient; re-defining the test transient as being the previously-defined test transient having the appended next signal segment appended thereto; calculating a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generating a new spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; and re-determining the quality metric from the new spectrum of component frequencies; and set an instrumental resolution to be employed for subsequent mass spectral data acquisitions by the electrostatic trapping mass analyzer in accordance with a length of the most-recently-defined test transient. an ion source; an electrostatic trapping mass analyzer configured to trap ions received from the ion source; a computer or information processor configured to receive a transient signal that is generated by the electrostatic trapping mass analyzer with said electrostatic trapping mass analyzer operated at its maximum resolution, the computer or information processor comprising computer readable instructions configured to: partition the transient signal into signal segments; define a test transient as being equal to a first one of the segments; calculate a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generate a spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; determine a quality metric from the spectrum of component frequencies and compare the quality metric to either a pre-determined minimum threshold value or a pre-determined maximum threshold value; perform, while the most-recently-determined quality metric is either less than the pre-determined minimum threshold value or greater than the pre-determined maximum threshold value, the steps of: appending a next signal segment onto the test transient; re-defining the test transient as being the previously-defined test transient having the appended next signal segment appended thereto; calculating a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generating a new spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; and re-determining the quality metric from the new spectrum of component frequencies; and set an instrumental resolution to be employed for subsequent mass spectral data acquisitions by the electrostatic trapping mass analyzer in accordance with a length of the most-recently-defined test transient. partition the transient signal into signal segments; define a test transient as being equal to a first one of the segments; calculate a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generate a spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; determine a quality metric from the spectrum of component frequencies and compare the quality metric to either a pre-determined minimum threshold value or a pre-determined maximum threshold value; perform, while the most-recently-determined quality metric is either less than the pre-determined minimum threshold value or greater than the pre-determined maximum threshold value, the steps of: appending a next signal segment onto the test transient; re-defining the test transient as being the previously-defined test transient having the appended next signal segment appended thereto; calculating a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generating a new spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; and re-determining the quality metric from the new spectrum of component frequencies; and appending a next signal segment onto the test transient; re-defining the test transient as being the previously-defined test transient having the appended next signal segment appended thereto; calculating a mathematical transform of the test transient and thereby generating a new spectrum of component frequencies of the test transient; and re-determining the quality metric from the new spectrum of component frequencies; and set an instrumental resolution to be employed for subsequent mass spectral data acquisitions by the electrostatic trapping mass analyzer in accordance with a length of the most-recently-defined test transient.