It turns soft in the end (3)
I believe the answer is:
tip
'the end' is the definition.
(tip is a kind of end)
'it turns soft' is the wordplay.
'turns' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano').
'it' back-to-front is 'ti'.
'ti'+'p'='TIP'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for tip that I've seen before include "End; piece of advice" , "Indication of potential opportunity" , "for writers, it may be felt" , "The rubbish dump" , "present!" .)