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No, you don't really. Heck, even if you have realistic sample libraries, you can still use them incorrectly and lack humanization in what you write, and that could actually not sound as good as a well-treated soundfont with careful note overlap and meticulous volume automation. The combination of good-enough sounds and hard work to make them sound realistic is what really counts. There is also the context - what platform are you writing for? (If it's something like 16-bit and 32-bit RPG music, then an old Roland-SC88 soundfont pool can work, even though it's not that realistic.) This is something zircon made with realistic sample libraries: And this is something that uses no sample libraries, only soundfonts and stuff: Both of them still sound pretty darn good in their own way. It's about the way you treat the instruments, not how good they sound out of the box.