Not hard: soft in comparison I deleted (6)
I believe the answer is:
simple
'not hard soft in comparison i deleted' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'hard soft in comparison i deleted' is the wordplay.
'hard' indicates anagramming the letters.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano', soft).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'comparison' becomes 'simile' (simile is a kind of comparison).
'deleted' suggests deleting specific letters.
'p' put into 'simile' is 'similpe'.
'similpe' with 'i' taken away is 'smilpe'.
'smilpe' with letters rearranged gives 'SIMPLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for simple that I've seen before include "The opposite of difficult or elaborate" , "Impels to be plain" , "Uncomplicated; herb" , "Straightforward, not elaborate" , "Plain and uncomplicated" .)