yes you will need an SIO plug (or other rudimentry pinned connection) for the other end of the USB cable and a PL23XX driver
in aspeqt set the cable as D1, real drive as D2 and boot a copy2000 or copymate type of program on your A8. then swap D1 in the emulator for your chosen ATR and put a blank floppy in D2 and set it off 🙃