Doctor who, if not very soft, could have been nicer (7)

'doctor who if not' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'soft could have been nicer' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'soft' could be 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo) and 'pp' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'nicer' is 'crien' which is within the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'very' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?