Writing Dead notes in Sonar Notation

Luke, I don't think that the staff view qualifies as "Sonar Notation" really, I guess you wont be able to change a note's head to an "x" for ghost note, you can reduce it's size the have a slur note, etc.
it is not intended for that  I think.
I allays export the *.mid to a serious notation program for that, Sonar Staff View is for scoring and sequencing IMO but not notation, sadly..
 

You won't use the notation to get a sound, is more to have a visual of the score.
The "sound" of a dead note you get it from the instrument, if you have a palm mute sampler you trigger that in the instrument, selecting the right patch or you trigger that using whatever method the instrument has implemented (usually a modifier or key-switch)
 
For that the old Event View or nowadays PRV are much more efficient than Staff View.
 
in normal midi playback you'll get more close to a dead note using a note length of 1 or 0 rather than velocity=1, but it depends on the samples and configuration of the instrument really. Trial and error.
 
But I'll tweak that on PRV hands down, not on "notation"
 
dd