Bessel processes associated with the root systems $A_{N-1}$ and $B_N$ describe interacting particle systems with $N$ particles on $\mathbb R$; they form dynamic versions of the classical $β$-Hermite and Laguerre ensembles. In this paper we study corresponding Cauchy processes constructed via some subordination. This leads to $β$-Cauchy ensembles in both cases with explicit distributions. For these distributions we derive central limit theorems for fixed $N$ in the freezing regime, i.e., when the parameters tend to infinity. The results are closely related to corresponding known freezing results for $β$-Hermite and Laguerre ensembles and for Bessel processes.