Chairs or soft settles (8)
I believe the answer is:
presides
'chairs' is the definition.
('preside' can be a synonym of 'chair')
'soft settles' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'soft' could be 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano') and 'p' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'resides' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for presides that I've seen before include "is placed in chair" , "Manages meeting" , "Is in authority (over a meeting)" .)