re-sizing a project / can't get midi to work

I was experimenting a while back and i made a project in 24 bit sampling rate 96khz.
 
In photo editing i can take a project one size and move it down a standard size in resolution
 
But In cakewalk if a project is 24 bit it would be nice in some cases to be able to switch it to 16 bit and presto it is done.
 
I have on several occasions tried to convert a 24 bit song to 16 bit and noting seems to happen.
 
I go to Utilities => Change Audio Format and select 16 bit hit okay and it goes through a process covering several clips then
 
After that my project still says 24 bit...
 
The reason I am trying to convert this file to 16 bit is actually i need to convert the 96 khz down to 46 khz or 44khz.
 
I have a intel quad core 64 bit processor and the way i make music is I  make a bunch of mostly mono tracks, add a bunch of effects and then in the bus section i add some modest mastering effects. So I am mixing and mastering in the same project.
 
This takes up a lot of CPU cycles.
 
So it try to keep my files 24 bit 44khz so it leaves enough processor headroom so I can have a reasonable number of tracks and effects before my processor bottle-necked.
 
So I need to copy one by one each track from one project open in cake walk to another project concurrently open in cakewalk.
 
I created a folder on my desktop named the title of the song.
 
Then I one by one soloed the tracks selected the entire selected the entire track then File => Export => Audio
 
Export as 24 bit wave 44khz
 
The tricky part is shutting off all effects audio envelopes mastering so all that is brought from this project to the new project are the raw unadulterated tracks.
 
for my melodyne tracks I export audio and then mix down to new audio clips
 
I also remove (undo) all melodyne instances on the track and export the raw track version of the track in case i need to go back to the original take for some reason
 
So i have a 2 tracks from of each melodyne track.
 
At that point I am able to re-setup all of the envelopes, effects and mastering inserts without the processor bottleneck.
 
Does this sound about right?
 
I am wondering is there an easier ways to do this?
 
Is there a file resize dropdown menu where I can simply presto convert the original files of a project from say 96 khz down to 44 khz?
 
It seems cakewalk will not play this file and also allow me to record in the same project.
 
I bring midi instruments in and the project will only play for a few moments and then stop.
 
I think it is because it is 96 khz and my computer cannot do both record and play all these tracks at this resolution.
 
I have a Roland quad-capture audio interface.
 
I am wondering maybe different drivers? but I don't think that will help a bottleneck issue.
 
It seems my only choice is to export each raw track and load them into a new project at the desired resolution.
 
This is a lot to have to do. It devoting more time to a song than I generally have to do. It take this kind of thought and planning to convert a large resolution song to a usable project.
 
I always wonder if the re-sampling dulled the luster of the tracks the dithering is also a factor...
 
any tips and suggestions welcome :)
 
thx
 
http://trexred.com